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Added on the 14/11/2020 10:23:57 - Copyright : Wochit
In an unusually harsh punishment, China has condemned one of the country's top bankers to death over bribery and bigamy charges. Business Insider reports the condemned man is Lai Xiaomin, ex-chairman of the banking giant China Huarong Asset Management. He was found guilty of accepting $277 million in bribes between 2008 and 2018, and has been called China's most corrupt financial official. Execution by lethal injection is not a typical punishment for corruption, which usually results in a lifetime prison sentence. The death sentence comes as part of an anti-corruption crusade led by Chinese President Xi Jinping. Since its start, the commission has punished about 1.5 million officials.
Shares of Chinese shopping website Alibaba fell as much as 3% on Monday. The prolonged absence from the public view of its founder Jack Ma has raised eyebrows. According to Markets Insider, Ma has not been seen in public in more than two months. When he unexpectedly failed to show up, he was abruptly replaced as a judge on an African entrepreneurship TV show late last year. His companies Alibaba and Ant Group face increased regulatory pressure from the Chinese government. The crackdown coincides with Ma's remarks at a conference that Chinese financial regulators were an 'old people's club,' unable to keep up with technology.
Jack Ma, the billionaire founder of Alibaba and Ant Group hasn't been seen in public in over two months. At a Shanghai conference in late October, Ma called financial regulators an 'old people's club' ill-suited to oversee Chinese tech innovation. In response, Chinese regulators launched an antitrust investigation into Jack Ma's online shopping behemoth. The government also introduced new regulations that halted the IPO of Ma's Ant Group. But Business Insider reports Ma's disappearance isn't unique among prominent Chinese personalities who have tangled with the government. Retired real estate tycoon Ren Zhiqiang and former asset manager Xiao Jianhua, have also disappeared after facing criticism from Chinese regulators. And Meng Hongwei, the former head of the International Criminal Police Organization, disappeared in September 2018 during a trip to China from France.
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Athens for his three-day visit where he will meet Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis before heading to a BRICS summit in Brazil. Xi's visit comes on the heels of a four-day trip to Shanghai by new conservative PM Mitsotakis. IMAGES
Chinese President Xi Jinping leaves Vietnam after a two-day state visit to the neighbouring communist country. The trip was Xi's first to Vietnam in six years, and the two nations committed to deeper ties and signed more than 30 agreements, including a pledge to develop rail links between Vietnam and China. IMAGES
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