Dozens of China’s state regulators, bankers, finance bosses in corruption net as crackdown stepped up in new year

More than 30 senior figures netted in first five months of year, Post tally shows, as watchdog responds to President Xi Jinping’s ‘financial superpower’ call

Latest to fall is former Agricultural Bank of China vice-president Luo Wenlong, with analysts expecting more heads to roll in drive to stamp out risks

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Lou Wenlong, a former vice-president of Agricultural Bank of China, is being investigated by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection for “serious violations of party discipline and the law”. Photo: Weibo

Published: 9:00pm, 18 May 2024

More than 30 Chinese state regulators, bankers and senior financial executives have been detained so far this year, a tally by the South China Morning Post shows, as the top corruption watchdog continues a sweeping crackdown in response to President Xi Jinping’s call to make China a “financial superpower”.

Analysts expect more heads to roll as Beijing is determined to stamp out any risks linked to financial corruption and maintain stability. They said graftbusters were going after officials accused of colluding with bankers and executives to approve loans in exchange for kickbacks and other favours.

The latest to fall was Lou Wenlong, 66, a former vice-president of state-owned Agricultural Bank of China.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, China’s top anti-corruption agency, said in a statement on its website on Thursday that Lou was under investigation for “serious violations of party discipline and the law” – a familiar euphemism for corruption. Lou was in charge of handling bad debts at the bank until he retired in 2017.

According to the Post’s tally, 17 of those netted in the past five months were senior managers of state-held banks or their regional branches. Among these, four were retired officials of China Development Bank: former vice-president Li Jiping, former Shandong and Jilin provincial branch bosses Yu Zeshui and Zhang Chi, and former Qinghai branch vice-president Wang Zhun.

As one of the country’s three policy lenders, CDB is tasked with financing large-scale government development projects. It has become embroiled in several corruption scandals in recent decades. In one of the most high-profile cases, former chairman Hu Huaibang was sentenced to life in prison in 2021 for taking 85.5 million yuan (US$11.8 million) in bribes.

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