What’s new: Xiao Xing, former deputy general manager of the state-owned China Taiping Insurance Group Ltd., has pleaded guilty to accepting more than 81 million yuan ($11 million) in bribes over 25 years while serving as a senior government official and financial executive.
Xiao’s crimes spanned from 1998 to 2023 during his tenure as an official at the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Youth League and as a senior management member of state-owned China Life Insurance Co. Ltd. and Taiping Insurance Group Ltd., the procuratorate said.
A court in Xinxiang, Henan province, heard Xiao’s case Thursday.
Xiao took advantage of his positions to seek benefits for others in loans and financing, business deals, and job placements. He illegally received payments and gifts totaling more than 81.48 million yuan, either directly or through intermediaries, the procuratorate said.
Xiao pleaded guilty to all charges. The court said that sentencing will be announced at a later date.
Background: Xiao, 52, was placed under graft investigation in July 2023 and arrested in January.
He joined China Life’s Shanghai branch in 2005 and rose to general manager in 2011. In 2013, he became general manager of China Taiping’s asset management unit and was named the insurer’s deputy general manager in 2017.
China Taiping has been rattled by a series of corruption scandals which have brought down Wang Bin, a former chairman of the group, Zhang Ke, former head of its life insurance arm, and Ni Bo, deputy general manager of Taiping Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
Sources told Caixin earlier that the investigation into Xiao is part of a graft crackdown that has unsettled officialdom in Shanghai. Xiao, who spent nearly two decades in Shanghai’s municipal and insurance sectors, was targeted during investigations into two senior officials — Dong Yunhu and Cheng Feng, they said.
Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com)
