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Major General Cai Guangliao, of the People’s Armed Police, was detained on suspicion of discipline violations in October. Photo: Zhongshan city police
The deputy party chief of Guangdong police, who oversaw the security of China's top leaders in the province, is being investigated for alleged corruption by military graft busters, mainland media reports.
Major General Cai Guangliao, of the People’s Armed Police, was taken away by investigators of the Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Central Military Commission at the end of October on suspicion of discipline violations, the financial news service Caixin reported.
It is still unclear about the specific allegations that Cai is facing, but he was removed from his posts as a member of Guangdong People’s Political Consultative Conference as well as deputy director of its social and legal commission, Legal Evening News reported, citing a decision by the Standing Committee of the advisory body yesterday.
Cai, 57, had served in the provincial public security department since 1977 and became head of the department's guard bureau – an armed police agency in charge of the safety of top leaders – in the province in 1995.
In 2003, he was named as a deputy director of the provincial party committee’s general office.
By the end of last year, the party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection had inspected all provinces, the semi-military Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (above), as well as 19 ministries and state-owned enterprises.
Communist Party graft-busters will turn up the heat on big state-owned enterprises this year, making them a major target of the country's massive anti-corruption campaign.
"[We] will inspect all major state-owned firms that are directly under the management of the central government this year," the party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said yesterday in a statement at the end of a three-day full meeting in the capital.
The party has used the inspection process as an "incisive sword", or advance force, in its ongoing anti-corruption campaign. As part of the push, the commission ordered three rounds of inspections covering more than 40 "regions and entities" last year, double the number carried out in 2013.
The state assets regulator also has its own inspection system to monitor the 113 state firms under its management. It identified 325 "problematic cases" and passed on information on 88 potential graft cases to the commission in 2014.
By the end of last year, the commission had inspected all provinces, the semi-military Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, as well as 19 ministries and state-owned enterprises.
In November last year, it embarked on a round of more "targeted and focused" probes, most of which were into state firms, including Sinopec and China Southern Airlines. The investigations were seen then as a sign that graft-busters had their sights on corrupt SOE executives.
At this week's gathering, President Xi Jinping called for tighter oversight of state-owned companies, with monitoring to be ramped up on four fronts: regulatory and inspection systems, party loyalty, supervision of executives, and audits of the firms.
In response, the commission said yesterday that it had decided to increase its presence in major SOEs by adding another eight teams as in-house anti-graft watchdogs.
The commission has 52 teams covering about 140 central government firms and bureaus, and will expand its operations to cover all SOEs. Each team can be responsible for one institution or a group of similar firms.
The commission also resolved to crack down on factions in the party, one of its main tasks for this year.
"Our party absolutely cannot tolerate the formation of cliques or a culture of factionalism. Going one's own way or surface-only loyalty are absolutely not allowed," the commission said in its statement.
The statement came just days after the party admitted for the first time in decades that there were factions in the organisation, identifying the cliques as the "Shanxi gang", the "petroleum gang" and the "secretary gang". A Xinhua report said the three "tigers" detained for alleged graft - Zhou Yongkang , Xu Caihou , and Ling Jihua - had formed factions for personal gain.
In addition, the commission said it would keep up the high pressure of the campaign and focus more on those who try to block investigations by, for example, destroying evidence or sending money offshore.
It plans this year to improve monitoring of officials at the county level and below to stop the corruption rot in those ranks. Anti-graft investigators would be replaced if they slackened off, the statement said.
The commission will continue its hunt for fugitives that have fled overseas. This will be a major focus of its efforts this year, with the agency aiming to make breakthroughs in big cases.
Yi Junqing made his first public appearance in 22 months. Photo: AP
A former senior Communist Party propaganda official sacked because of an alleged sex scandal has made his first public appearance in 22 months.
Yi Junqing, 57, was the head of Communist Party’s Central Compilation and Translation Bureau until he was removed in early 2013 for “problems with his lifestyle”, Communist Party jargon usually referring to extramarital affairs.
The bureau's responsibilities include researching the classic texts of Marxism, translating party leaders’ writings into foreign languages, and providing theoretical support for developing party doctrines.
Yi made a surprising appearance at a Marxism forum held in Harbin, capital of the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, in November, Academic Exchange magazine reported this week. He gave a keynote speech outlining domestic studies of Neo-Marxism in eastern Europe, according to the magazine.
Yi (9th from left, front) at the centre of over 100 participants in a group shot.A photograph printed with the report shows Yi at the centre of over 100 participants for a group shot.
This was Yi's first known appearance at a public event since he became one of the first senior party officials dismissed after party chief Xi Jinping took power in late 2012.
His sacking came shortly after a lengthy account written by a female researcher in his department detailing an extramarital affair between them was published online, sparking wide public uproar.
Li Jianjun, a former investigative reporter who claims to have posted the accounts on the internet that eventually led to Yi’s downfall, expressed disappointment Yi was merely removed from his post for his extramarital issues.
“The lengthy account also included scenarios that Yi allegedly received both sexual and money briberies, but the authorities appeared to have never bothered to launch any investigations into the allegations,” Li said in an interview with the South China Morning Post on Thursday.
Yi, a Marxism theorist, is rumoured to be the originator of the political slogan “The three confidences”, which argues the Communist Party’s leadership and its members must have complete belief in its “political route, theory and system”.
The slogan has become one of President Xi Jinping’s favourite sayings in the last two years.
Thousands of Party officials have been investigated, sacked and prosecuted across the country in Xi's sweeping anti-corruption campaign which has so far shown no signs of letting up. While a growing number of these fallen officials are being accused of adultery by Party investigators, alleged sexual misconduct is usually tagged on to more serious accusations such as bribery, embezzlement or abuse of power, and very few officials appear to have been sacked for adultery alone.
Chinese to auction off government cars impounded in anti-waste crackdown
First batch of vehicles taken off the roads by central government departments to go under hammer later this month
Drivers wait for dozens of delegates at the National People's Congress in government cars. Photo: AFP
The first batch of central government cars to be taken off the roads as part of the crackdown on extravagant or unnecessary spending by officials is to be sold at auction.
Three Beijing-based auction houses are to sell more than 3,000 impounded official vehicles, the news website Chinanews.com reported.
Details have been published of 204 of them and opening prices range from 2,000 yuan (HK$253,000) to 250,000 yuan for a minibus.
Money raised will go the central government treasury.
The vehicles include Volkswagens, Audis and Buicks.
The highest starting price for a sedan is 180,000 yuan for a 2009 Audi, the report said.
Government guidelines introduced as part of the crackdown on wasteful spending state that government vehicles should only be used for specific tasks and in emergencies and not for day-to-day use by officials.
The auctions will be held on January 25, January 26 and on February 1.
The diners are seen walking out of the seafood restaurant in this photo taken by Southern Metropolis Daily.
Three newspaper reporters who were in Shenzhen covertly investigating lavish banquets by public servants were allegedly assaulted by retired and current police officers after gate-crashing their event.
The journalists from Guangzhou’s Southern Metropolis Daily went to a Shenzhen seafood restaurant to follow up on a tip off that uniformed police were gathered there for an “opulent dinner”, the newspaper said today.
Passing themselves off as staff, the reporters managed to enter the dining hall and observe the goings-on.
A journalist was reportedly hit on the head.
Though the meal itself ended up costing less than 200 yuan (HK$251) per person and was paid for by a generous officer, the 28 guests were each given giant salamanders as a gift – considered a delicacy in China though strictly regulated by state laws.
Shortly before the police officers left, the reporters disclosed their identities and asked for comments.
“When the reporters revealed their identities and requested the diners for interviews, [one of the reporters was] assaulted and slapped in the face by the officials at the dinner,” the report said.
The officers also reportedly held a photographer in a chokehold and snatched a phone and camera from another reporter. Two of the three were mildly injured.
The journalists called up the police emergency number, but the arriving officers simply let the alleged assailants walk away, according to the Daily.
The Shenzhen Municipal Police Bureau said it launched a full investigation into the alleged attack. But it declined to disclose details when contacted by South China Morning Post on Monday, citing the investigation was still ongoing.
But the Daily‘s report quoted police bureau chief Li Chunsheng as saying that so far the investigation only confirmed the gathering was organised by a former police officer, who paid the bill for everyone.
Giant salamander is considered a delicacy in China though protected by state laws.
The Daily‘s own investigation found that 28 former and active officers attended the dinner, including a district police branch chief. Altogether they spent 5,400 yuan on the meal.
The giant salamanders, classified as a category-two state protected animals, can fetch as much as 2,000 yuan per kilogram in the market.
It also said that among the attackers was a veteran police officer who only retired recently.
Lavish government banquets have been banned outright by an austerity campaign launched by President Xi Jinping two years ago to limit bureaucratic spending and certain officials’ corrupt lifestyles.
Last year alone, the Communist Party uncovered 77,606 violations to the austerity campaign, leading to 133,000 officials being punished, according to the Central Committee for Disciplinary Inspection, the nation’s anti-corruption watchdog.
Luxury market in China hit hard by anti-graft campaign
Staff Reporter
2015-01-28
A model shows off a newly-released watch at the 30th Hong Kong Watch & Clock Fair in September 2011. (Photo/Xinhua)
With wealthy Chinese keeping a low profile amid the country's anti-graft campaign, the luxury goods market in China has remained quiet even though Chinese New Year is right around the corner, traditionally a booming season for premium goods.
There are only a few customers checking out high-end watches and other luxury goods at stores in Hong Kong, a sharp contrast to the crowds packing the stores at this time of a year in the past, according to Guangzhou's Time Weekly.
Gone is the lustrous record of China's luxury goods market just a few years ago, including over 11% annual growth rate during 2011-2013, and the especially high 19% growth in 2012.
The luxury goods market slipped 1% to 115 billion yuan (US$18.4 billion) in 2014, indicating that the nation has lost its status as a major growth driver for the global luxury industry, according to consulting firm Bain & Company.
From the second half of 2014, Xie Min (pseudonym) from Shenzhen has foregone her hobby of shopping at expensive watch stores in Hong Kong, as her husband, an employee at a state-owned company, has repeatedly asked her not to do so due to instructions from his superior.
Due to shrinking patronage from mainland customers, luxury goods sales in Hong Kong have been declining since September, greatly dampening the performance of major luxury brands there. One such example is the Richemont Group, whose third-quarter sales in Hong Kong stagnated. Burberry also saw a decline in sales in the third quarter.
The decline in sales of luxury brands in China can also associated with changes in the shopping practices of the country's wealthy amid the anti-graft campaign, as more and more now shop online or go abroad to purchase luxury goods directly, Time Weekly said.
Bain reports that in 2014 Chinese people purchased luxury goods worth 55-70 billion yuan (US$8.8-$11.2 billion) abroad, mainly bags, watches and jewelry, via agents, equivalent to 50% of the total sales of those brands at their China stores. Total luxury goods consumption by Chinese nationals topped 380 billion yuan (US$60.8 billion) in the year, according to Bain.
Due to shrinking sales, new stores opened by 20 leading luxury goods brands in China reached dropped below 100 in 2014, compared with 100 in 2013 and 150 in 2012, Bain said.
Liu Han in tears in court last year. He was executed for his crimes, including murder and running a mafia-style gang, on Monday morning. Photo: SCMP Pictures
A Chinese mining tycoon linked to former security tsar Zhou Yongkang has been executed, according to state media.
Sichuan native Liu Han, 48, was found guilty of 13 charges – including murder, organising casinos, running a mafia-style gang and illegally selling firearms – and sentenced to death in late May.
He was executed on Monday morning together with four associates, including his younger brother Liu Wei, Xianning city intermediate court said.
Liu Han’s Hanlong Group – a conglomerate founded in 1997 with interests ranging from energy to real estate – was fined 300 million yuan (HK$377 million) for crimes including the use of fraudulent information to obtain bank loans.
Hanlong Group and 20 defendants submitted appeals to the Hubei court early in June, Chinanews.com reported.
Former security tsar Zhou Yongkang was stripped of his Communist Party membership in December after he was found to have taken bribes and abused his power. Photo: AP
Sources said Liu became friends with Zhou’s elder son, Zhou Bin in 2003. The elder Zhou had asked Liu to look after his son, who had at least two business dealings with Liu. Liu’s Hanlong Group bought a tourism company from the younger Zhou for 12 million yuan, mainland media reported.
Zhou Bin has been detained since December over allegations of bribery.
Zhou Yongkang, China's former security chief and Politburo member, was stripped of his Communist Party membership in December and will face prosecution, Xinhua reported earlier, citing the Politburo of the party’s Central Committee.
Zhou, 72, was accused of a series of serious violations of “party and organisational discipline and secrecy”, ranging from taking bribes to leaking party and state secrets and “exchanging power and money for sex”.
The report said he took bribes and abused his post for the benefit of others, including mistresses, relatives and friends. He was also accused of having caused heavy losses of state-owned assets.
Wang Wenlin, pictured here flanked by police, owned shops, jewellery and department stores, hotels and entertainment venues. Photo: Xiamen Daily
A wealthy businesswoman from eastern China has been given a suspended death sentence for fraud, according to a newspaper report.
Wang Wenling, 53, was convicted by a court in the city of Xiamen of raising 480 million yuan (HK$605 million) from investors promising high returns, but then failing to pay up, the Beijing Youth Daily reported.
The newspaper said Wang had founded more than 60 companies and was one of the richest women in the city.
She set up firms in Xiamen, Hong Kong and Malaysia and owned shops, jewellery and department stores, hotels and entertainment venues, the report said.
She fraudulently raised the cash from 257 investors between 2008 and 2011.
Fraud in raising capital is “rampant” in China and Wang’s case was one of 74,907 instances of illegal fund raising among private investors in Fujian province last year, according to the report.
Wang’s case has echoes of the jailing of the woman tycoon Wu Ying in eastern Zhejiang province.
She was initially sentenced to death for defrauding investors out of about 770 million yuan in 2009, but this was later reduced to a suspended death sentence on appeal.
Wu, a farmer’s daughter, started making headlines in 2006 as a mysterious businesswoman whose fortune was estimated at 3.8 billion yuan.
She said she had acquired her start-up capital legitimately from the profits of foreign trade and by speculating in jewellery, property and commodity futures.
