Corruption earthquake in the financial sector in China: Death penalty to former president

Yi Huiman, former Chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), was sentenced to a 2-year suspended death sentence for accepting bribes worth 436 million yuan ($65.4 million). The court also ordered that Yi be banned from political rights for life and his personal assets be confiscated.

In the case heard in Chingdu, the administrative center of Sichuan province, the court determined that Yi received bribes in the form of cash and real estate by abusing his positions in the management of the CSRC and the Xinjiang Uyghur Region between 1998 and 2025.

The court reported that Yi confessed to his crimes, provided information about crimes that investigators did not yet know about, and expressed his remorse. It was stated that the sentence was postponed because some crimes remained at the attempted stage and Yi returned some of the assets he obtained through bribery.

According to Chinese law, if Yi does not commit a new crime during the two-year reprieve, his death sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment.

THE SECOND PRESIDENT TO UNDERGO A CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION

Yi, who served as CSRC chairman between 2019 and 2024, was dismissed in 2024 after Class A shares in the Shanghai Stock Exchange fell to the lowest level in the last five years.

62-year-old Yi, who studied statistics, worked at different levels at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, one of China's largest banks. He became the general manager of the bank in 2013 and the chairman of the board of directors in 2016.

Yi, who took over as head of the CSRC in 2019, became the second president to face a corruption investigation in the institution. Yi's predecessor, CSRC Chairman Liu Xiyu, was also accused of accepting bribes and favoritism in share sales in his hometown, Ciansu province.

CORRUPTION INVESTIGATIONS EXTENDED TO THE AUDIT AGENCY

Following the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in October 2022, with the renewal of the staff of the party's Central Disciplinary Investigation Commission, corruption investigations expanded to public banks, wealth funds and regulatory institutions in the financial sector.

Since the party disciplinary authority launched the investigation focusing on the CSRC in April 2024, many senior executives of the institution have been detained.

An investigation was launched against Vang Humin, the former chairman of the CSRC Disciplinary Commission, in March 2025, six years after his retirement. It was reported that an investigation was opened against the current Vice President of the institution, Vang Ciencün, in May 2025.

CSRC Science and Technology Supervision Department Director Yao Qien, Jiangsu Province Director Ling Feng, Shinjin Bureau Director Qin Xiaoping and Deputy General Manager of Shanghai Stock Exchange Dong Guocun were among the people investigated. An investigation was also conducted against some officials responsible for supervising public offering transactions.