Former chief of China’s second-largest weapons manufacturer to be arrested

中國第二大武器製造商前負責人被捕

Former Norinco Chairman Yin Jiaxiu second boss of company to go down this year


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — China has approved the arrest on corruption charges of a former chairman of one of the country’s largest weapons manufacturers, the China North Industries Group Corporation (Norinco), according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

The former party secretary and chairman of Norinco, Yin Jiaxiu, will be arrested for “taking bribes and making illegal profits for relatives and friends,” the country’s Supreme People’s Protectorate said in a statement on Monday (Oct. 25). Yin, who retired early three years ago, had been the focus of a seven-month internal party probe by China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).

The CCDI, which is the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP's) anti-corruption watchdog, accused the former chairman of funneling company business to friends and relatives, leading to “huge losses in national interests,” according to a CCDI readout cited by the SCMP. The readout also accused the 65-year-old former executive of being “obsessed with golfing” and maintaining an illegal golf club membership.

Yin is preceded in detention by the man he succeeded at Norinco, Hu Wenming, who was tried in February and is now awaiting sentencing for offenses committed before his time at the weapons manufacturer. Hu, said to be another “golf lover” by the CCDI, was convicted of accepting “huge sums” of bribes during his time at the Aviation Industry Corporation of China as well as the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), which is responsible for building China’s aircraft carriers.

The chain of corruption at the shipbuilder also extends further back, with former CSIC General Manager Sun Bo having been sentenced to 12 years in jail for taking bribes and abuse of power in July 2019.

Norinco, which is ranked No. 127 in Fortune's Global 500, supplies all manner of weapons systems to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and Chinese police, including guns, tanks, and military aircraft. The company is the eighth-largest arms manufacturer worldwide and the second-largest in China, according to data cited by the SCMP.