Chinese billionaire, Liu Han known for his love of casinos, cigars and luxury cars, his brother and three others were executed Monday, in one of the most dramatic episodes yet in President Xi Jinping’s war on corruption.
Han, 49, was a mining tycoon once worth at least £4.2 billion, was one of five alleged mafia kingpins to receive the death penalty after being convicted of offences including gun-running and murder.
The part-time God Father “Tyrannised local people and seriously harmed the local economic and social order,” Xinhua, China’s official news agency, said.
Prior to his death, Han was allowed a final “meeting” with his family, Xinhua added.
Han made his money in construction and went on to become the chairman of the Hanlong Group, a Chengdu-based mining firm with interests in Australia, Africa and the United States. The tycoon was a vocal and extravagant regular in the business pages, boasting of his diamond watches and fleet of Bentleys, Ferraris and Rolls-Royces.
Han was arrested in 2013 and sentenced to death last May, with a court in Hubei province declaring him head of “a cabal of ferocious gangsters”. Xinhua said Liu was “a ruthless underworld kingpin” and claimed one of his gangs had been found in possession of three grenades, 20 guns, 677 bullets, 2,163 shotgun cartridges and more than 100 knives.
The most violent of his alleged crimes came in 2009 when he masterminded a drive-by shooting in Sichuan province in which three people were killed.
“It was so fast. It was like watching a movie,” a witness to the executions said.
On Monday, state media spun Han’s execution as the latest victory in Xi Jinping’s war on corruption. The tycoon’s mafia group had been “harboured and indulged by government officials,” Xinhua claimed.