The great wall of cash: Hundreds of bundles of bribery money worth £22million are found in a corrupt bigamist Chinese official’s home

A Chinese official who is accused of bribery, corruption and bigamy has been caught hiding hundreds of bundles of banknotes worth £22million in his flat, it has been revealed.

Safes and suitcases stuffed with suspected bribery money were reportedly discovered when authorities raided the apartment of Lai Xiaomin in Beijing.

The 57-year-old was arrested in 2018 while working as the chairman and Communist Party Secretary of one of the country’s largest state-own asset management companies. 

The startling details of Mr Lai’s case were recently revealed by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV in a documentary.

According to the programme, Mr Lai insisted companies and individuals pay their bribes in cash and would personally drive the banknotes to this flat, which was uninhabited. 

It is said that he would even make some deliberate detours on way to the residential complex to avoid possible followers and only referred to the hideout as ‘the supermarkets’ to his contacts.

The news channel then showed footage of Mr Lai confessing to his crimes.

Describing how he had come up with the code name, Mr Lai was shown saying: ‘[I would] take [the money] and put it there, just like going to the supermarket.’

The man then added that the money had been locked in ‘iron cabinets’.

‘I did not spend a penny and left all [of the money] there. In the end, all was confiscated by the organisation (the Communist Party).

‘What use was it to have so much money which [I] dared not to spend or use in the end and had to feel scared for?’ he confessed.

The official report also accused Mr Lai of receiving ‘a large number’ of properties, luxury cars, expensive watches, gold, paintings and calligraphy artworks. 

It did not reveal the total value of the bribes the disgraced official was accused of taking. 

Mr Lai, who is originally from the rural province of Jiangxi, embarked on his career with the People’s Bank of China in July, 1983, according to China Daily.

He went onto hold key positions at the China Banking Regulatory Commission, the state-run agency that regulates the banking sector, as well as Beijing Banking Regulatory Bureau.

In April, 2018, while heading China Huarong Asset Management, he was invested by Beijing’s corruption watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).

He was charged with bribery, corruption and bigamy the following February. 

CCDI alleged that Mr Lai had exploited various professional positions and demanded ‘significant benefits’ in exchange for providing ‘aid’ for companies and individuals.

He was also said to have lived with other women in the name of husband and wife while still being married to his spouse. 

He was subsequently expelled from the Communist Party and removed from his positions. 

It is understood that Mr Lai’s trial is yet to take place. 

‘We have handled several cases in the financial field, but [none of the suspects] was like Lai Xiaomin,’ said Chen Qingpu, the deputy director of CCDI Cadre Monitoring Office.

He described to CCTV: ‘Mr Lai’s bribery amount, level of harm, criminal details and criminal means are staggering and jaw-dropping.’ 

Chinese President Xi Jinping has launched a tough anti-corruption campaign since he took office in 2012. 

Statistics show at least 53 officials have been caught receiving more than 100 million yuan (£11 million) in bribes in the past seven years in the nation. 

Late last year, Zhang Qi, a 58-year-old Chinese Communist official, was suspected to have received 13.5 tonnes of gold and £30 billion cash in bribes, according to previous reports.