Wuhai rectifies "coal-related" corruption: 20 years of investigation
China News Weekly Reporter/Zhou Qunfeng
Published in 2020.7.20, the 956th issue of China News Weekly
Wuhai, located in the western part of Inner Mongolia, is known as the "Sea of Wujin" because of its abundant high-quality coking coal and other mineral resources.
On June 28th, the official website of the Inner Mongolia Commission for Discipline Inspection issued an official message that Gao Shihong, former deputy secretary and mayor of Wuhai City, was expelled from the party and public office for serious violations of discipline and law. In addition to Bai Xiangqun and Hou Fengqi, who were investigated and dealt with previously, three of the successive mayors of Wuhai have fallen into disrepair since the 18th National Congress.
Inner Mongolia is rich in coal resources, with coal resources distributed in 11 of the 12 alliance cities and 523 coal mines. Since 2000, the coal industry in Inner Mongolia has risen, prices have skyrocketed, various corruption issues have gradually increased, and coal-related cases have occurred frequently. In February this year, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Commission for Discipline Inspection issued a message that it will comprehensively investigate corruption in the field of coal resources in the past 20 years.
In this “coal-related” rectification storm that has swept across Inner Mongolia and throughout the year, Wuhai City has attracted much attention no matter how hard it is to investigate and punish officials, the high incidence of corruption in the coal field, or the tightness of the chain of collusion between officials and businessmen.
Judging from the publicly disclosed information, the coal bosses and officials in Wuhai are deeply intertwined, and corruption in the coal field has a long history. A number of people from the Wuhai Municipal Energy Bureau and the Commission for Discipline Inspection told China News Weekly that Wuhai’s “coal-related” rectification storm was unprecedented.
"Bottom Screening"
"Have you ever gone through a coal mine?" One day in May this year, an interviewee from Wuhai City was suddenly asked by his father about this sentence.
The interviewee told China News Weekly that his father was a retired department-level cadre, now in his 80s, and has retired from the post of secretary of the Disciplinary Committee of a unit in Wuhai City for many years. "According to the arrangement and deployment of the special rectification work of the municipal party committee and the municipal government, the retired or in-service staff of the father's unit must count the individuals and all family members within the past 20 years, whether they are involved in coal, etc. It must also be reported to all family members. The ID card number, name and other information can be said to be leak-proof."
Similar situations have occurred in many institutions. A teacher in Wuhai City said that before the school started during the epidemic, he received a notice from the school and went to the school to fill out a report form on personal matters, "it is to report to himself and his family whether they have participated in coal mining. I have bought a small coal kiln, etc., and this kind of cross-border inspection method can't run away."
A staff member of the Wuhai Discipline Inspection Commission told China News Weekly that the staff of the Discipline Inspection Commission was also asked to fill in relevant information. "The amount of information filled is huge, and the content is very specific. On one occasion, I filled in two or three pages, and I and my family have to report whether I have invested in a coal mine."
This unprecedented storm of remediation began in February this year. On February 28th, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region held a special meeting and decided to conduct a full-scale inventory of all links in the planning, investment review, resource allocation, and environmental review of all coal mines in the region since 2000 to ensure that the problem of coal resources cleared. On the basis of the comprehensive investigation of the problem, we will focus on rectifying all coal-related projects in the region since 2000, as well as all coal-related violations and violations of coal law and law issues by party and government agencies, institutions, state-owned enterprises at all levels, and retired. People who work in important positions and are related to coal resource management are in violation of regulations and laws.
Shi Taifeng, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, once said that carrying out this special rectification is "a major political task entrusted to the Inner Mongolia by the Party Central Committee." On May 6 this year, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region's coal resources field special rectification work leading group convened the second meeting. The meeting pointed out that the special rectification has entered the stage of problem verification, emphasizing the need to fully cover the four aspects of time span, coal-related projects, coal-related enterprises, and problem bottom, and never let a violation project, violation enterprise, and violation personnel leak the net.
A number of interviewees said that under this “bottom-up” investigation, they did not dare to falsify when filling in the report. “Many coal bosses and officials have already surrendered some people after being investigated. According to the individual declaration form, see if there are There is no person with overlapping information." A person in charge of the Wuhai City Energy Bureau told China News Weekly that the investigation involved a very wide range of people. In the past 20 years, all people involved in coal mines' shareholding and participation have to be investigated.
Both Wuhai City and the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Municipal Energy Bureau have openly accepted clues for reporting. The former focuses on accepting clues from party organizations and party members, cadres, and supervisors suspected of disciplinary violations or duty violations and crimes in the coal resource field, while the latter focuses on accepting clues from coal energy workers. These issues are also considered to be the key content of the Wuhai "coal-related" rectification.
The acceptance scope of the Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision mainly includes: the problem that the staff of the party and government organs and the leading cadres of state-owned enterprises invest in coal mines in violation of their names or incognito; the leading cadres of the party and government use their power to seek illegal benefits for their close relatives or specific related parties, and collusion between officials and businessmen 1. Asking for bribes and accepting bribes, acting as a "protective umbrella" for unscrupulous mine owners; clues on dereliction of duty and corruption behind coal mine safety accidents, etc.
"China News Weekly" learned from the Wuhai City Energy Bureau that the scope of reports accepted by the Bureau included as many as 11 items, including clues on the use of false projects, fraudulent investment, and fraudulent exploitation of coal resources; evasion of prospecting in the name of fire control Rights, mining rights, clues on violations of laws and regulations on the allocation of coal resources, etc.
A staff member of the Wuhai Discipline Inspection Commission told China News Weekly that all units involved in the coal field, including energy, land and other units, must conduct self-examination. "Because some cases are involved, the public prosecution and law department is also turning over old cases to check. Are there any clues to this problem."
On May 12, the Inner Mongolia Daily reported that the supervisory organ of Wuhai Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection docked with various departments to find out the bottom of the two-tier coal-related enterprises and coal-distributing coal-related enterprises in the urban area, and sort out the management of coal-related ownership from 2013 to 2019. Matters, initially completed the investigation of personnel in the energy project approval function and industrial project approval function from 2000 to 2019.
Huangbaici Coal Mine was built in 1958. The original name was Dongfanghong Coal Mine. It was one of the earliest coal mines in Wuhai City. Photographer/Journalist Zhou Qunfeng
At least 10 former members of the municipal party committee fell
Since 2000, among the successive mayors of Wuhai, Hou Fengqi, Bai Xiangqun, and Gao Shihong have been laid down, and the first two of them have served as secretary of the Wuhai Municipal Party Committee. In October 2017, Hou Fengqi was sentenced to 17 years in first instance, and in October 2019, Bai Xiangqun was sentenced to 16 years in first instance. The investigation of the three "original mayors" also made Wuhai very concerned in this 20-year special investigation.
Among the three, Bai Xiangqun received particular attention. In April 2018, Bai Xiangqun was appointed as the vice chairman of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Government and was a provincial and ministerial leader when he was investigated. From March 2003 to February 2011, he was in charge of Wuhai for 8 years. This period coincided with the golden 10 years of Chinese coal. Many of his problems are also related to coal.
On April 24, 2018, Bai Xiangqun was investigated and investigated by the National Discipline Inspection Commission of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection; on January 31, 2019, the court opened the first trial, and the procuratorial organ prosecuted Bai Xiangqun for various crimes such as corruption, bribery, insider trading, etc., and illegal income exceeded 100 million. yuan.
In January this year, CCTV aired the TV feature film "National Supervision", and in the second episode "Overall Supervision", disclosed the details of Bai Xiangqun's corruption. The feature film revealed that Bai Xiangqun used the resources of the "Sea of Wujin" in exchange for a large amount of "black gold" for himself during his administration of Wuhai. Chen Zhengyun, deputy director of the Ninth Supervision and Inspection Office of the National Discipline Inspection Commission of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, said, "During his tenure in Wuhai, he arbitrarily intervened in the allocation of coal resources and made money by examining and approving coal resources, mineral resources development, and real estate development. 37 involved in this case Among the bosses, 20 bosses are involved in resource allocation. He allocated coal resources for Du Moumou, the actual controller of a listed company in Inner Mongolia, and he received a set of more than 16 million worth of Beijing real estate. Coal for a Guangdong boss Resource allocation, receiving 5 million to buy a villa in Beijing."
China Net Finance reported that the documentary did not name the specific name of the listed company and who Dumou was, but multiple clues were suspected to point to Junzheng Group and the actual controller Du Jiangtao. According to data from Rixin Securities, Junzheng Group has three major coal mines: Baiyinwusu, Heilonggui and Shenhua Junzheng. The former two have reserves of 4 million tons and 12 million tons respectively, and the latter have reserves of 100 million tons. Among them, Baiyin Wusu and Heilonggui coal mines are located in Wuhai City.
In October 2018, the Hurun Research Institute's Hurun Rich List shows that Du Jiangtao and Hao Hong's wealth is 16.5 billion yuan, ranking among the richest people in Inner Mongolia. A number of insiders in Wuhai told China News Weekly that before and after Bai Xiangqun, Du Jiangtao did assist in the investigation, but later gained freedom.
Hou Fengqi, another mayor of Wuhaiyuan, who predates the white-horse community horse, is also deeply involved in coal corruption. In February 2008, Hou Fengqi was nominated as the mayor of Wuhai City. At that time, the secretary of the municipal party committee was Bai Xiangqun, and the two had worked together for 3 years. In November 2015, Hou was appointed as Secretary of the Wuhai Municipal Party Committee.
"China News Weekly" sees from the criminal judgment of the first instance of Hou Fengqi's bribery. The enterprises associated with the case include multiple coal enterprises such as Dukou Shuangqing Coal Mine in Hainan District of Wuhai City and Inner Mongolia Xingguang Coal Group Co., Ltd. Among them, among the 30 bribes identified by Hou Fengqi, the biggest one was the acceptance of the Chairman of Inner Mongolia Wenming Mining Group Zhang 150,000 USD and RMB 9 million.
The verdict shows that after accepting bribes, Hou Fengqi provided assistance to the boss for coal mining under the name of contracting fire fighting projects and coordinating the extension of fire fighting projects. For example, Hou Fengqi confessed one of the bribes: "One day in September 2008, Zhang Mou came to my home in the Ukrainian Navy Division carrying a document bag. He said that before I became mayor, the country, the autonomous region and the city The relevant department approved a fire-fighting project of 50,000 square meters for their company, which is actually a coal mining project. I hope that I can say hello to Kong Mou, the director of the Municipal Coal Management Bureau, and allow him to postpone the mining as soon as possible. I said yes. When he left Leave me the file bag with $150,000 in it."
Gao Shihong is the third former mayor of Wuhai City in recent years. The public resume shows that Gao Shihong served as acting mayor and mayor of Wuhai City from December 2016 to December 2019. Before taking office in Wuhai, he briefly served in the post of Deputy Secretary of the Erdos Municipal Committee and Secretary of the Political and Legal Committee for about 7 months.
The official report stated: Gao Shihong passively responded to the inspection and rectification; received gifts that may affect the fair execution of official duties; failed to report personal matters as required, and received the property of others in the process of selecting and appointing cadres and employees; using the convenience of his duties to seek benefits for others and illegally accept the property of others . Many interviewees said that there is currently no news that points to high issues involving the Wuhai coal sector.
China News Weekly found that three other officials who had held the post of deputy mayor of Wuhai City were sacked, namely He Yonglin (from April 2004 to February 2008, serving as the standing committee and deputy mayor of Wuhai Municipal Committee), Yu Lost in 2016; Bo Liangen (February 1998~February 2004, served as the Standing Committee and Deputy Mayor of the Municipal Party Committee), lost his position in 2013; Li Zhimin (September 2001~August 2011, served as the Standing Committee and Deputy City of Wuhai Municipal Committee (Long), fell in 2019. In addition, Wu Fengmei, the former deputy secretary of the Wuhai Municipal Party Committee and secretary of the Political and Legal Committee, and Chen Wenku, the former standing member of the Wuhai Municipal Committee and the United Front Secretary, have also been investigated.
According to incomplete statistics, in the past 7 years, at least 12 important officials have been sacked among officials of Shitu and Wuhai. It is worth noting that 10 of these 12 people were former members of the Wuhai Municipal Committee. According to several local insiders, Wuhai City has involved some coal bosses in the investigation of major cases. Some of them are also under investigation, including some coal bosses mentioned in Hou Fengqi and other cases.
In the eyes of scholars, represented by Wuhai, coal-related corruption in Inner Mongolia has shown typical "ecological corruption" characteristics. Shi Taifeng, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, once said publicly, "The prominent problems in the coal resources area of our region are mainly manifested in illegal acquisition and reselling of coal resources, illegal allocation of coal resources, coal corruption issues that seriously pollute the political ecology, and the spread of coal resources. These problems have become the biggest'cancer' and source of polluting the political ecology, and must be removed and completely eliminated."
Wei Changdong, executive director of the China Institute of Integrity and Legal System Research and director of the Integrity and Rule of Law Center of the Institute of Law, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told China News Weekly that the anti-corruption system is different from the past and uses coal as a breakthrough to systematically clean up the local “ecology”. , "This time anti-corruption is to some extent a benchmark for ecological governance. Corruption within the ecology. Investigating and punishing one or two people cannot solve the problems within the ecosystem. It is to use the method of ecological governance for systematic governance."
"Wuhai coal boss is more accessible to officials"
Many Wuhai coal bosses and local media people told China News Weekly that in those years when coal prices soared, especially during the "Golden Decade" (2002~2012), a large number of Wuhai coal bosses did earn a lot of money Full of money. The reason why these people are digging coal madly is inseparable from the policy's default and even encouragement at that time.
In a WeChat public account article titled "Wuhai's Coal Bosses", the price of coal has been low until 2000, and coal mining cannot make a fortune. When the coal is dug out, it also needs to beg others to buy it, and the profit is also not tall. Therefore, at that time, the government encouraged everyone to purchase mineral rights. Since 2000, energy demand has increased, more power plants have been built, steel companies have flourished, and coal prices have gradually increased. Especially after 2003, coal prices have skyrocketed. Many prophets and southerners came to Wuhai and obtained mineral rights from various channels, and they became upstarts at once.
"In those years when coal was prosperous, one hundred and eighty billionaires were generated in a year. In those years when coal prices were high, Wuhai produced at least five or six billion billionaires." The article said that the government was pursuing GDP Rapid growth, the establishment of policies with rapid water flow and rapid mining, and coal resource tax is also very low.
A local coal boss told China News Weekly that the coal bosses in Wuhai are mostly southerners and northeasterns. They came here and could not survive without a good relationship with the government. "Compared with other allied cities in Inner Mongolia, coal bosses in Wuhai are more likely to contact officials."
The coal boss analyzed that coal mines with an annual output of less than 600,000 tons in Wuhai have basically ceased production, and those with an annual output of more than 600,000 tons are only one or two dozen. They can count the number of fingers. In contrast, there are hundreds of coal mines with more than 600,000 tons in Ordos. Ordos has a population of more than 2 million, which is about 4 times the population of Wuhai. He said, "Erdos and Wuhai are prefecture-level cities, and the number of departmental officials is similar. In Ordos, local officials may only focus on a few, while Wuhai's leaders have more opportunities to directly intervene in coal mines and coal mines. "
The coal boss said that Wuhai has a small area and a small population, and the relationship between people is more prominent. The coal boss of Wuhai can connect with the main local officials through two or three people. "Sometimes you don't even need to refer through an intermediary to get close to officials. For example, government departments need coal mine enterprises to do charity activities. Some coal bosses seize the opportunity and do several charity activities to get closer to Wuhai officials. relationship."
Under the environment of close relations between officials and businessmen, Wuhai coal bosses continue to dispute the way of personal wealth creation, and the most prominent problems are coal mining under the name of contracting fire extinguishing projects.
Data show that in northern China, there are many thick coal seams and a dry climate. Spontaneous fires are burning in coal fields in the range from the Pamirs Plateau north of 36 degrees north latitude to the west slope of the Greater Xing'an Mountains. A retired person from the Mining Bureau of Wuda District told China News Weekly that for some large-scale fire-fighting projects, the state can even allocate tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of yuan in funds, but many of these funds are not used for fire fighting. For example, in the name of the fire fighting project, the mining bureau subcontracted the relevant areas to dozens of secondary units such as the agriculture and forestry company and coal coke company under the mining bureau. In the name, sell the land to the coal boss, "After the coal boss pays the money, he will dig the coal frantically in the name of fire extinguishment. Under this background, some fire extinguishing projects will extinguish the fire and the time will be longer."
In addition, in the past rectification, the closed coal mines in Wuhai have been revived, and coal-related enterprises have evaded taxes when transferring equity. After 2005, Wuhai City successively closed 101 coal mines that did not have safe production conditions and did not comply with the national industrial policy, but they continued to find that the closed coal mines were resurgent. On March 30, 2010, an article in Inner Mongolia Daily reported that Wuhai City cracked down on coal mine equity transfer and tax evasion. In February 2010, the Public Security Bureau of Wuhai City filed a lawful tax evasion case against Luotuoshan Coal Mine in Haibo Bay District. The investigation revealed that between 2006 and 2009, the Luotuoshan Coal Mine had been transferred four times, and the equity transfer price rose from 46 million yuan to 260 million yuan. All shareholders did not declare tax to the tax department, and the amount of suspected tax evasion reached more than 26 million yuan.
"China News Weekly" has tried to contact a number of Wuhai coal bosses, and many people declined to interview. Many insiders said that many Wuhai coal bosses have recently been called by relevant departments to talk, and some have not yet come out. "Now they are almost all startled birds." A local media person said that under the past lack of supervision, almost all coal owners have original sins. This time, they faced high pressure from the pressure of back-checking, and many people were already chilling.
Some coal bosses who are willing to speak out told China News Weekly that it is unreasonable in terms of policies to look back 20 years now. A person in charge of the Regulatory Supervision Department of Wuhai City Energy Bureau told China News Weekly, "With the development of society, the legal system is also constantly regulated, and the relevant policies must be inconsistent with that at that time. There are unified arrangements for this issue. The coal bosses use national resources to make money. They have no power to direct the government." As for the policy change, whether it is according to the policy at that time or the current policy, the person in charge said, "This government has its own method, and there is no need to report to them (coal boss)." "
In this storm, the boss of coal is most concerned about how to get through the border, and some people are already thinking of withdrawing completely. As early as November 2011, Wuhai City was included in the country's third batch of resource-depleted cities. In January 2013, in a report on Chinanews.com, then Cui Shifeng, the executive deputy director of the Wuhai Foreign Publicity Center, said, "At present, there are more than 100 coal bosses active in Wuhai City, and nearly 80% of them The coal boss has begun to transform. Although many people are still operating coal mines, their main focus has been on transforming industries."
After a lapse of many years, a local coal boss told China News Weekly that most of the coal bosses’ transformation effects are currently not satisfactory. The so-called transformation of many coal bosses is actually only transferred to coal-related enterprises such as coal washing plants and coking plants.
In the process of this check, in addition to the rectification of the political ecology, how to restore the natural ecology is also a remaining problem. Many insiders said that the natural ecology of Wuhai has also been severely damaged after a long period of crazy coal mining. Almost all places with coal were turned upside down. In some places, the entire mountain was hollowed out. Many mountains were stolen and were covered with holes and bruises. A former employee of the Wuda Mining Bureau said that at present, Wuhai Wuhushan Coal Mine and other places have formed huge deep pits due to over-exploitation all year round, and ecological restoration is very difficult.
A person in charge of the Regulation and Supervision Section of the Wuhai City Energy Bureau told China News Weekly that coal bosses rely on state resources to obey government management. This is a matter of course, "They have to bear the burden and let the damaged The social responsibility of the mine to restore its original appearance and restore its ecology."
China News Weekly Issue 26, 2020
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