What’s New: A court in northeast China’s Hebei province Thursday heard the corruption case of Hu Huaibang, a former chairman of policy lender China Development Bank (CDB). Hu faces corruption charges including taking 85.5 million yuan ($12 million) in bribes.
Prosecutors accused Hu of using his power to offer favorable business and loan terms to others in exchange for bribes between 2009 and 2019 while he was chairman of the Bank of Communications and of the CDB.
The Background: Hu, 64, was placed under investigation by the Communist Party’s anti-graft agency in July 2019. He allegedly helped two former highflying conglomerates — CEFC China Energy Co. Ltd. and HNA Group Co. Ltd. — obtain billions of dollars in dubious credit that fueled their meteoric expansions, Caixin reported last year.
Hu resorted to tactics that included removing, transferring or simply overruling underlings who opposed his efforts to funnel huge amounts of loans to the two companies, both of which became targets of a regulatory crackdown on risky business, sources said. Hu retired as CDB chairman in September 2018.
Related: In Depth: Former Policy Bank Chief Used Personnel Shifts, Strong-Arm Tactics to Funnel Loans
Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bobsimison@caixin.com)
