An arrest warrant has been issued for Hu Huaibang, a former chief of policy lender China Development Bank (CDB), who is under suspicion for taking bribes, the country’s top prosecutor said on Thursday, reported Caixin.
The arrest order comes half a year after the veteran banker was placed under investigation in one of the most notable anti-corruption cases in China’s financial sector in recent years.
Hu, 64, retired from his position as CDB chairman in September 2018 after working there for over five years. During his tenure, Hu used his position to help two former highflying giants — CEFC China Energy Co. Ltd. and HNA Group Co. Ltd. — obtain billions of dollars in dubious credit that helped fuel their meteoric rises.
Both CEFC and HNA are among a group of high-profile Chinese giants that accumulated billions of dollars in assets both at home and abroad in recent years. Many of them have been forced to sell off assets, as Beijing warned in mid-2017 of financial risks posed by their massive piles of debt.