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 program, 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 businesspeople 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.
He was expelled from the Communist Party in June 2023. In a joint statement, the CCDI and the National Supervisory Commission said Fan had taken part in lavish banquets and travel arrangements “in violation of regulations for a long time.” He helped arrange jobs for people, including relatives who were able to obtain salaries without actually working, the government agencies said.
Over the past year, the CCDI has embarked on a sweeping crackdown on the financial sector that has ensnared some of the country’s biggest names, including Liu Liange, former chairman of state-owned Bank of China, and Wang Bin, former head of state-owned China Life Insurance.
Earlier this month, another former top business leader in China was removed from the Communist Party, showing how the campaign was continuing into the new year.
Tang Shuangning, the ex-chairman and party chief of the China Everbright Group, was expelled after an investigation found he had illegally accepted funds and gifts, including huge amounts of property, according to authorities.
Tang was chairman from 2007 to 2017 at China Everbright, one of the country’s oldest and largest state-owned financial conglomerates.
More tumult has followed. As of Thursday, Wang Yongsheng, a former vice president of state-controlled China Development Bank, was detained on suspicion of bribery, according to a Xinhua report posted on CCDI’s website. Chinese state-run newspaper China Daily reported last week that Wang had been expelled from the party following a probe that allegedly found he had illegally owned shares of unlisted companies, among other violations.
In addition to Fan’s case, the CCTV documentary exposed graft at a state-owned energy investment group and at the highest levels of Chinese sport. It alleged that Li Tie, the former head coach of the men’s national soccer team, took millions of dollars in bribes in exchange for selecting players from a certain soccer club, among other crimes.
Li left his position in December 2021, before being probed by authorities in 2022. He was indicted on suspicion of bribery in August 2023, according to Xinhua.
The documentary has caused a stir since its broadcast. As of Thursday, it was one of the top trending topics on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like social networking platform, with 150 million views.
