China’s corruption crackdown puts 5 SOEs and Shanghai state assets supervisor in investigation cross hairs

Bai Tinghui, head of agency that manages state-owned enterprises, is under probe for ‘serious violations’ of law and Communist Party discipline

Meanwhile, local disciplinary groups are investigating five bosses of state-owned companies in energy, shipbuilding, gas and electricity industries

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Shanghai SASAC director Bai Tinghui is among the officials swept up in an anti-corruption drive targeting the state asset sector. Photo: Weibo

Published: 6:30pm, 14 Sep 2023

China continues to crack down on corruption in the state asset sector, with five state-owned enterprises and Shanghai’s top agency for supervising the central government’s state-owned assets in the cross hairs of new investigations.

Bai Tinghui, party secretary and director of the Shanghai State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, is currently under investigation for “serious violations of party discipline and the law”, the Shanghai Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision announced on Thursday.

Bai has headed the agency since his appointment in February 2019. The Henan province native has had a long career in the eastern megacity, previously working as a subway engineer, director of the Shanghai Railway Transit and the Shanghai Water Authority. In 2017, he became a member of the Communist Party’s Shanghai municipal committee.

Also on Thursday, state news agency Xinhua reported that five management-level staff at SOEs across China were under investigation by local disciplinary bureaus. The companies span industries including energy, shipbuilding, gas and electricity.

Another SOE boss targeted in the anti-graft crackdown was convicted this week. Wang Bin, former chairman and party chief of China Life Insurance, was given a suspended death sentence, which is likely to be commuted to life imprisonment after a two-year probationary period, for taking bribes and hiding overseas funds, Xinhua reported.

He was found to have abused his power and illegally gained 325 million yuan (US$44.66 million) from various financial institutions while changing savings into foreign currency, violating regulations for state company officials.