Li Li, the former shipping head at China Export-Import Bank (CExim), has admitted to charges of accepting bribes relating to ship-finance deals and pleaded guilty at a Chinese court, according to local news agency reports.
The high-profile shipping banker was put on trial at the Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture Intermediate People’s Court in Yunan.
The case follows a probe by China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) involving 10 high-profile people involved in Chinese ship finance.
Li, who has been under investigation since January 2022, was accused of accepting unlawful payments — known as graft — amounting to CNY 93.9m ($13.6m) over 10 years.
Li — a former party secretary and president of the Beijing branch of CExim— was accused of taking advantage of her position as general manager of the transportation financing division of the state bank.
The bribery was linked to deals involving the China Aircraft Leasing Group (CALG), Essar Group of India, an unnamed German shipbroker and European shipowner Evergas. The services from the bank included scheduled loans and letters of guarantee.
Li was reported to have carried out the illegal transactions as an individual, or in collaboration with others, in accepting bribes from the four companies.
Between September 2010 and March 2012, Li was said to have taken advantage of her position as general manager of CExim to provide six leasing loans amounting to $257m to CALG.
For her assistance, Li and her husband are alleged to have received CNY 3.605m from CALG vice president Liu Wanting.
The corruption relating to ship finance is alleged to have involved lease finance projects from Bocomm Financial Leasing, ICBC Financial Leasing and Minsheng Financial Leasing.
Li was detained in 2022 along with Wang Wei (Eric Wang), who was a former colleague at CExim and the founder of boutique lease finance arranger Smarine Advisors.
Prison sentence
According to reliable news sources, prosecutors at the trial have called for Wang to be given CNY 6.4m in fines and a prison sentence of up to 15 years.
Wang is accused of taking more than $21m in bribes as consultancy or commissions while he was at CExim, the report said. He is also accused of offering bribes to both public and private officials.
The latest arrest in the investigation was in February this year when Zhang Siliang (Stacy Zhang) was detained by CCDI officials at Shanghai’s Pudong Airport.
Zhang was a former team leader and commercial head of gas shipping at Beijing-based ship-finance powerhouse ICBC Financial Leasing.
The other people involved in the investigation include Fang Xiuzhi, shipping head of Bank of Communications Leasing; Guo Fangmeng (Bill Guo) of Citic Financial Leasing and formerly of ICBC Financial Leasing; Fan Qiyong, shipping head of Minsheng Financial Leasing; Yang Changkun (CK Yang), partner of Equator Fund Management and ex-head of shipping at ICBC Leasing and CExim; David Wu of Landmark Capital; and former ICBC Financial Leasing executives Ji Fuxing and Lv Zhuo (Luke Lv).
The CCDI is not a state but a Chinese Communist Party organ, and its investigations and disciplinary actions are extrajudicial and can have political implications.
