Former Chairman of China Everbright Group Tang Shuangning Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison: Who Did He Betray?

This photo, taken on October 8, 2020, shows armed police patrolling a commercial street in Beijing during a holiday. A police officer wearing a red armband sits at the alley entrance, constantly monitoring the movements of the public. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

[People News] On December 10, Tang Shuangning, former chairman of China Everbright Group, was sentenced to 12 years in prison by the Intermediate Court of Tangshan City, Hebei Province, for embezzlement and bribery. He was also fined 1.3 million yuan. The investigation into Tang went back 20 years, with accusations of embezzling 3.015 million yuan and taking 11.02 million yuan in bribes.

This outcome is surprising. Compared to cases like Cai Guohua, the former chairman of Hengfeng Bank, who was involved in 10.3 billion yuan of corruption, or other officials accused of embezzling or taking bribes exceeding 1 billion yuan, the figures in Tang’s case seem almost trivial. Before Tang was prosecuted in April this year, officials had described him as a “major tiger” in two respects: occupying public assets of extraordinarily large amounts and illegally accepting extraordinarily large sums of money. Despite these accusations, the seemingly lighter economic crimes received a heavy sentence, leading analysts to speculate that Tang’s real offenses may not have been financial. Instead, his disloyalty to the current regime may be the key, as the government seeks to tighten its control over financial power and capitalize on anti-corruption efforts to confiscate wealth from corrupt officials.

When Tang was expelled from the Communist Party in January, China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate reported that Tang had “brought into the country and read publications containing serious political issues and accepted ‘housekeeper-style’ services,” which had little to do with his financial crimes.

Interestingly, while Tang received a 12-year sentence, the authorities claimed it was a lenient punishment. During the trial, a noteworthy mitigating factor was cited. The Tangshan Intermediate Court stated that Tang’s embezzlement and bribery amounts were extraordinarily large and deserved legal punishment. However, given that he truthfully confessed to his crimes after being brought in, voluntarily disclosed embezzlement facts and some bribery acts unknown to investigators, and thus qualified for voluntary surrender, his punishment for embezzlement was reduced, and his punishment for bribery was mitigated. The court subsequently handed down the sentence.

Here, either the officially reported figures for Tang's embezzlement and bribery were significantly reduced for some reason, or certain amounts of embezzled or bribed funds were handled in an undisclosed manner or omitted from the charges altogether.

So, what is the reason? It is highly likely what the court described as Tang "voluntarily disclosing embezzlement facts and parts of bribery incidents that the investigation authorities had not yet uncovered."

Analysts point out that the court’s vague phrasing likely implies that Tang provided incriminating evidence about other political rivals that the authorities sought. As a result, Tang himself was spared harsher punishment. The question arises: who did Tang betray?

According to publicly available information, Tang Shuangning held several prominent positions, including Vice President of the Shenyang branch of China Construction Bank, President of the Shenyang branch of the People's Bank of China, and Vice Chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission. In 2007, Tang was parachuted into China Everbright Group, serving as Party Secretary and Chairman. He retired in 2017, was investigated in July 2023, expelled from the CCP on January 6, 2023, and arrested on January 15. Tang also served as an advisor in art and literary organizations, focusing on areas such as poetry and fine arts.

After Tang’s retirement, Li Xiaopeng, former Vice Chairman and General Manager of China Merchants Group, succeeded him as Chairman of Everbright Group. Li himself was investigated before Tang.

After Li Xiaopeng stepped down, Wang Jiang, previously President of China Construction Bank, became Chairman of Everbright Group. Wang’s tenure lasted less than a year and a half before the Organization Department of the CCP Central Committee announced his removal, possibly for reassignment to another position.

Beyond Li Xiaopeng and Tang Shuangning, numerous senior executives at Everbright Group have been investigated, including: Xue Feng, former Chairman of Everbright Securities,Zhang Huayu, former Deputy President of Everbright Bank, Zhu Huimin, former Chairman of Everbright Industrial Group, Zhou Jiangtao and Su Shude, former Presidents of the Nanning branch of Everbright Bank, Zhang Bo, former Chief Business Officer of Everbright Bank, Chen Shuang, former CEO of Everbright Holdings

Many of these individuals were promoted by Tang Shuangning, including Zhu Huimin, Chen Shuang, and Xue Feng. One individual particularly worth noting is Liu Ying, former Deputy General Manager of Everbright Bank's Credit Card Center. Liu was detained after Tang’s downfall due to suspicions of irregular loans issued during his tenure as President of the Qingdao branch of Everbright Bank, which ultimately resulted in substantial bad debt. Insiders suggest that this case, potentially linked to directives from Tang, may have been the immediate trigger for his investigation.

The downfall of these individuals has allowed the CCP to seize significant sums of misappropriated public funds. Among those implicated after Tang’s fall, Liu Ying is most likely the individual Tang betrayed.

Political observers argue that investigations into senior executives in the banking sector have been ongoing in recent years because Xi Jinping’s CCP has yet to fully consolidate control over the financial system. Many of the remaining personnel hail from the Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao eras, representing factions outside of Xi’s circle. These individuals are seen as engaging in subversive activities, creating financial risks, and potentially destabilizing the regime. Over the past decade, Xi’s administration has focused on wresting control of financial power, as evidenced by numerous high-profile arrests of senior executives at major banks such as ICBC and CCB. This indicates that the campaign to seize financial control is still underway. It is expected that more high-ranking officials in the financial system will face investigations, indictments, and confiscation of bribe money in the near future.