Money down the drain
August 3rd 2008 08:08
According to the Cambridge History of China, an anti-corruption campaign was begun, by imperial decree, on April 7, 1651. It is probably not the same war on corruption that the current decision-makers in Beijing are waging, but they are fighting the fight with the same ruthlessness. When it comes to cracking down hard and fast without the inconvenience of public accountability, emperors and leaders of totalitarian regimes have it good.
Cracking down hard on corruption in today's China means punishments up to and including the death penalty. The official news agency Xinhua has reported a steady flow of executions for corruption over the past few years, and has just reported another.
Yan Dabin, a former director of transport for Wushan County near the southwestern city of Chongqing, was sentenced on Friday for taking bribes totalling more than US$3 million from road building companies. It's a substantial crime, and Yan will face the ultimate penalty under Chinese law.
This case did have a few quirks. The ill-gotten gains were discovered in an unoccupied flat owned by Yan. The occupant of the flat below had complained of water leaking through the ceiling, and when the complaint was investigated by a policeman, Yan's cache of loot was found in several soggy cardboard boxes hidden in a toilet. It was the faulty toilet which had been leaking water.
Yan's wife Fu Shangfang was sentenced to three years in prison, suspended for five years, after she was found guilty of laundering millions of illicit yuan through a series of house purchases, Xinhua said.
Much more recently, the Chinese authorities announced a new campaign, this one to stamp out once and for all the custom of spitting. The maximum penalty has not been announced, but if you are planning to travel to Beijing for the Olympics, you have been warned.
Cracking down hard on corruption in today's China means punishments up to and including the death penalty. The official news agency Xinhua has reported a steady flow of executions for corruption over the past few years, and has just reported another.
Yan Dabin, a former director of transport for Wushan County near the southwestern city of Chongqing, was sentenced on Friday for taking bribes totalling more than US$3 million from road building companies. It's a substantial crime, and Yan will face the ultimate penalty under Chinese law.
This case did have a few quirks. The ill-gotten gains were discovered in an unoccupied flat owned by Yan. The occupant of the flat below had complained of water leaking through the ceiling, and when the complaint was investigated by a policeman, Yan's cache of loot was found in several soggy cardboard boxes hidden in a toilet. It was the faulty toilet which had been leaking water.
Yan's wife Fu Shangfang was sentenced to three years in prison, suspended for five years, after she was found guilty of laundering millions of illicit yuan through a series of house purchases, Xinhua said.
Much more recently, the Chinese authorities announced a new campaign, this one to stamp out once and for all the custom of spitting. The maximum penalty has not been announced, but if you are planning to travel to Beijing for the Olympics, you have been warned.
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