Former Bank of China chairman indicted for bribery in nation’s long-running anticorruption drive

BEIJING (AP) — The former chairman of the Bank of China has been indicted on bribery charges, prosecutors said Monday, adding to a long list of business and government officials who have been brought down by Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s yearslong anticorruption drive.

Liu Liange is accused of taking advantage of his positions at the Bank of China and previously as president of the Export-Import Bank of China, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate said in a statement posted on social media.

He has been charged with helping others with loans and personnel appointments in return for property and cash and with making loans in violation of regulations, causing significant losses, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The charges against Liu, who has been under investigation for more than 10 months, were brought in the city of Jinan in eastern China’s Shandong province.

The state-owned Bank of China, one of the country’s “Big Four” banks, has a major overseas presence.

The anti-corruption campaign, which is popular with the public and has allowed Xi to sideline political rivals, shows no sign of letting up.

The Supreme People’s Procuratorate announced last month that Tang Shuangning, the former chairman of China Everbright Group, another state-owned bank, had been arrested on suspicion of embezzlement and bribery.

Conviction is all but a foregone conclusion in such cases. The former head of a state-owned asset management company was put to death in 2021 for taking bribes. Others have been sentenced to long prison terms.

Xi, in a speech to the ruling Communist Party’s discipline commission early this year, urged further efforts to win the tough and protracted battle against corruption, saying “the situation remains grave and complex,” Xinhua reported.

Beyond finance, the former chairman of the Chinese Football Association was tried last month on charges of taking 81 million yuan ($11.2 million) in bribes.