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Corruption in China
ChinaPolitics

Former Bank of China chief Liu Liange facing corruption investigation

  • The 62-year-old was abruptly removed from his post as chairman and party chief at the leading state-owned lender in February
  • Liu is the most senior banker to be ensnared by an anti-graft probe targeting the financial sector that was launched in 2021

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Liu Liange was snared by an anti-corruption campaign targeting the financial sector. Photo: AP
Cyril Ip

The former chairman of one of China’s biggest state banks is under investigation following his dismissal earlier this year, the nation’s top anti-corruption bodies announced on Friday.

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Liu Liange, who was removed as the Bank of China’s Communist Party chief in February without further explanation, is the most senior banker to become implicated in a crackdown on the financial sector that started in 2021.

The 62-year-old is “suspected of serious violations of discipline and law” – the usual euphemism for corruption – and “undergoing disciplinary review and supervisory investigation”, according to a joint statement by the National Supervision Commission and the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).

Liu joined the Bank of China in 2018 and served as governor and vice-chairman, before being promoted to chairman in 2019. He has worked in numerous financial institutions throughout his career, including at the Exim Bank of China and the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank.

Dozens of officials had already been brought down since President Xi Jinping launched the anti-corruption probe targeting the nation’s financial sector.
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Luo Xi, the former chairman of People’s Insurance Company Group of China, was also removed from his post in February. Meanwhile Wang Bin, the former chairman of China Life Insurance, was removed from his post last year and charged with bribery and concealing offshore deposits in January.

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