Li Huabo, Corrupt Chinese Bureaucrat or Fall Guy?
A former bureaucrat in one of China’s poorest regions is accused of embezzling millions and fleeing the country. Is he a symbol of Chinese corruption—or a victim of it?
This article is for subscribers only.
On a typically humid Singapore afternoon, Li Huabo leads visitors through the gates of his luxury condo complex—past the swimming pool, Jacuzzi, and reflexology center—to his three-bedroom apartment. He puts a stack of files on the dark marble dining room table while his wife gets juice from the kitchen, which looks out on a nature preserve. Li, 51, is stocky, with a boyish face framed by dark wire-rimmed glasses and black hair. He’s as ordinary as a man could be. You’d never know he’s facing charges related to alleged crimes in his native China, where Li claims he could have received the death penalty.