Former Chinese central banker accused of taking massive bribes, admits ‘huge mistake’

BBC: Fan Yifei, a disgraced former Chinese central banker, has admitted making a “huge mistake” in comments aired as part of a documentary by state broadcaster CCTV that alleges he accepted massive bribes from the beginning of his tenure.

Fan, who was one of the People’s Bank of China’s (PBOC) top officials from 2015 to 2022, was charged with bribery in September. The fresh revelations about him came a day after Chinese leader Xi Jinping vowed to go after “flies and ants” as part of an anti-corruption campaign targeting industries such as finance, energy and infrastructure.

The  CCTV programme,  which aired on Tuesday as part of a wide-ranging, four-part series, detailed the extent of Fan’s alleged crimes while he was the deputy governor. It described how he had received “extraordinarily massive” payments from executives of various companies in exchange for favors after taking up the PBOC’s second-highest position.

“I wanted to possess great power, and at the same time, to be rich,” Fan said in the documentary. “I made a huge mistake.”

According to CCTV, Fan accepted payments from business people through his brother’s investment company. In return, he allegedly helped them secure loans and contracts. He also allegedly accepted gifts, such as concert tickets and invitations to golf games from others trying to get close to him.
The program did not specify how much money Fan had accepted overall.

Qian Long, a staff member of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), China’s top anti-corruption watchdog, told the state broadcaster that Fan had engaged in “a large number of invisible and mutated new types of corruption. He said Fan had “used the rules of the financial markets as a cover to implement power-for-money transactions.”

Fan was placed under investigation by Chinese authorities in November 2022, leading him to step down from the bank, according to the official Xinhua news agency.