Liu Liange, the former chairman of the Bank of China, one of the world’s largest banks by assets, has been arrested on charges of accepting bribes and illegally granting loans, according to Chinese state media.
Mr. Liu, who led the state-owned bank from 2019 to 2023, was detained by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, China’s top prosecutor, on Monday. He had resigned from his position in March, shortly before the authorities announced that he was under investigation for corruption.
Mr. Liu is one of the most senior bankers to be caught in President Xi Jinping’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign, which has targeted the financial sector since late 2021. Several high-profile executives from state-owned banks and insurance companies have been fined, jailed or placed under scrutiny for various offenses, such as bribery, embezzlement, insider trading and fraud.
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), the Communist Party’s anti-graft watchdog, said last week that Mr. Liu had been expelled from the party and stripped of his public office for violating party rules and laws. The CCDI accused Mr. Liu of a range of misconducts, including bringing banned publications into the country, accepting entertainment at private clubs and ski resorts, and using his position to seek personal gains and benefit others.
The CCDI also said that Mr. Liu had caused significant financial risks by illegally granting loans to unqualified borrowers and failing to supervise the bank’s overseas branches. The Bank of China has been involved in several scandals in recent years, such as the $4.9 billion fraud case at its Johannesburg branch in 2020 and the $1 billion money laundering case at its Milan branch in 2019.
Mr. Liu had been a prominent figure in China’s banking and financial sector for decades. He had held senior positions in the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, and the Export-Import Bank of China, a policy bank that supports China’s foreign trade and investment. He was appointed as the chairman of the Bank of China in 2019, succeeding Chen Siqing, who became the chairman of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, another state-owned giant.
Mr. Liu’s arrest comes as China faces growing economic challenges amid a slowing growth rate, a property market downturn, a debt crisis at Evergrande Group, one of the country’s largest developers, and rising tensions with the United States over trade and technology issues. Analysts say that Mr. Xi’s crackdown on corruption in the financial sector is aimed at strengthening his control over the economy and ensuring its stability ahead of a crucial party congress next year, when he is expected to seek a third term as leader.