▲The Supervision Commission of the Discipline Inspection Commission of Yuncheng City of Shanxi Province used typical cases of violations of discipline and law by Sun Shifang and others to carry out warning education throughout the city to guide party members and cadres to keep the bottom line. The picture shows the city’s party members and cadres visiting the Integrity Exhibition Hall. Photo by Guo Sen
"The serious violation of discipline and law by Sun Shifang, the former deputy secretary of the Party Group and vice president of the Municipal Intermediate People's Court, has caused serious damage to the political ecology of the Municipal Intermediate People's Court and even the city's court system." Recently, the third inspection team of the Yuncheng Committee of Shanxi Province entered the city's intermediate people. The court conducted a three-month inspection work. Sun Shifang, who was "named" at the inspection mobilization meeting, had participated in private lending eight times and made a profit of nearly 2 million yuan. In response to the problems exposed in the Sun Shifang case, the Yuncheng Intermediate People's Court organized a centralized rectification and reform, and everyone submitted a self-examination and self-correction form for illegal participation in private lending.
The Regulations on Disciplinary Actions of the Communist Party of China clearly stipulate the punishment regulations for borrowing money from management and service targets, obtaining large returns through private lending and other financial activities, etc. that affect the fair execution of official duties. Public officials illegally participated in and organized private lending. The reason was that the word "profit" took the lead and they even forgot the party discipline and party rules.
There is a "Road" to earn 10,000 yuan a day
"I have some spare money in my hand. If you have the opportunity to help let it go and earn some interest." After getting acquainted with Cai, the person in charge of a real estate company, Sun Shifang proposed the idea of "making money with money".
At that time, Cai had a case in the People's Court and found Sun Shifang to help him greet the case handler. He was looking for an opportunity to thank Sun Shifang. In Cai's opinion, the opportunity to "encircle and hunt" Sun Shifang has come.
"I will give you as much interest as I charge. I don't make any money. If I can't collect it, I will bear the loss." Cai's promise was in line with Sun Shifang's wishes.
And Cai also has ulterior motives. He wants to make Sun Shifang earn money first, and get a good relationship with him by giving benefits, and then put forward his own needs: "I will help you with the case in the future!"
"There is a grease factory that needs money, with a monthly interest of 2 cents." After Cai told Sun Shifang, Sun Shifang provided Cai with 2.76 million yuan twice.
Because Sun Shifang took too long to transfer money, 1 million yuan of it has been left in Cai's corporate account. But after Cai took back the loan, he still paid 810,000 yuan in interest as scheduled.
Soon after, Cai found Sun Shifang again and said that someone needed money, with an interest of 1 million yuan and 3,000 yuan per day. Sun Shifang provided Cai Mou with 3.7 million yuan. Four days later, Sun Shifang received 44,400 yuan in interest.
15 days, a profit of 180,000 yuan; 4 days, a profit of 36,000 yuan; 10 days, a profit of 90,000 yuan...... Sun Shifang lent money to others through Cai Mou eight times, and made a profit of nearly 2 million yuan.
"Use money to make money" has been tried and tested, and Sun Shifang, who tasted the sweetness, even began to borrow money to "make money", and twice raised 1.4 million yuan from the driver Wei.
"The money seems to be a good way to get it, and he'earned' it. But in fact it still relies on the public power in his hands." The review and investigator said, from eating and drinking, receiving gifts and money, to receiving benefits through the case, and then To "make money with money", Sun Shifang completely became a slave to money.
In return, Sun Shifang, at Cai's request, used his power to greet Cai's case through the then president of a county people's court and the judge who hosted the case. After the case was appealed to the Municipal Intermediate People's Court, Sun Shifang called the relevant person in charge to his office and asked him to report the progress of the case at any time to ensure Cai's interests as much as possible. In the civil case involving Cai's wife, Cai once again asked Sun Shifang to intercede with the trial judge.
After all, paper can't hold the fire. In January 2019, Sun Shifang was investigated and investigated by the Yuncheng Commission for Discipline Inspection. In September, he was sentenced to eleven years and six months in prison.
In response to the illegal borrowing of party members and cadres, Jinhua City in Zhejiang Province organized more than 65,000 party members and cadres to conduct self-examination and self-correction. The picture shows the staff collating the self-examination and self-correction declaration materials of party members and cadres. Photo by Li Lingzhi
Relying on authority affects illegal profits
After sorting out, it was found that party members and cadres illegally participated in private lending to obtain high interest rates, which was not an isolated case. Behind it all is the word "profit".
What is the benefit?
Some party members and cadres use their powers to seek benefits for the management service objects, and then lend the funds to the management service objects and obtain "higher" interest. Sun Shifang lent money to others 8 times through Cai. During the loan period, he interceded and greeted Cai's related cases, which seriously affected the fair execution of official duties. The relevant person in charge of the Party Work Style and Political Style Supervision Office of the Yuncheng Commission for Discipline Inspection said: "This kind of loan relationship depends on the influence of the positions and powers of party members and cadres, and is actually a power and money transaction."
From the information reported, such cases are not uncommon: Shi Ping, former party secretary and director of the Department of Transportation of Anhui Province, obtained huge profits through private loans in violation of regulations; former member of the Standing Committee of the Shaoyang Municipal Party Committee, former minister of the Propaganda Department, and former director of the Municipal Federation of Trade Unions. Chairman Wang Changzhong used the influence of his position to profit through private lending activities; Liu Shihe, former chairman of the Finance and Economic Committee of the Shandong Provincial People’s Congress, engaged in private lending activities that affected the fair execution of official duties...
Where does the money come from?
Some people with ulterior motives, under the guise of private lending, offer bribes in disguise. After Shentu Fuhua, the former deputy secretary-general of the Jinhua Municipal Government in Zhejiang Province, served as the deputy secretary of the Dongyang Municipal Party Committee, many people who asked him for help expressed the intention of letting him “get dividends and make money together”. At first, Shentu Fuhua also borrowed hundreds of thousands of yuan or millions of yuan from others to "invest", and immediately returned the profits after making profits. As he became more and more courageous, he concentrated his borrowers on his "friends" who thought he was rich and generous, and used the borrowed money to borrow at high interest rates and re-lending, rolling "investments."
Some leading cadres of party members use corruption, embezzled public funds or proceeds from bribery, and use public power to borrow funds free of charge to engage in lending activities. The source of funds itself is income from violations of discipline and law. For example, Chen Dongqiao, the former party secretary and director of the Justice Department of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and the former first political commissar of the Autonomous Region Prison Administration Bureau, borrowed funds from management service objects for free to obtain large returns.
The investigation found that some illegal private borrowing and crime-related problems coexist. Some party members and cadres directly participate in gangland organizations, while others are intertwined with gangland organizations to provide protection, use usury to obtain illegal benefits, thereby realizing power and money transactions.
According to a report by the Gansu Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, since 2016, Zhang Siping, the former secretary of the party branch of Zengjie Village, Anhua Town, Wudu District, Longnan City, has invested in an investment limited liability company, illegally absorbed public deposits and loaned usury in the name of the company, and resorted to violence. Intimidation, harassment, entanglement, gathering crowds and other means to urge borrowers to collect accounts, illegal detention, provocation and provocation and other criminal activities have seriously disrupted social security and financial order. Zhang Siping was expelled from the party, and the suspected crime was transferred to the procuratorial organ for review and prosecution in accordance with the law.
Illegal private lending has not only become a breeding ground for corruption, but has also caused serious damage to the interests of the masses. This requires discipline inspection and supervision agencies to strengthen supervision of the operation of power, seriously investigate and punish party members and cadres illegally participating in private lending, and cut off the search for profit with power. Rent a chain.
Reduce rent-seeking space for illegal borrowing
After the case of Sun Shifang and others, the Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Yuncheng City sorted out the cases that public officials in the city had been dealt with due to illegal participation in private lending since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and formed a research report, and the main performance of public officials participating in private lending in violation of regulations The form and characteristics, causes, and hazards are analyzed.
In order to specifically rectify the illegal participation of public employees in private lending, in April this year, the Yuncheng Discipline Inspection Commission issued a work plan to carry out a special rectification of public employees' illegal participation in private lending throughout the city. At the same time, it formulated and promulgated the "Guidelines for the Discipline Inspection Commission of Yuncheng City to Optimize the Business Environment and Build Pro-Qing Politics and Business Relations", delineate the "prohibited areas" for political and business exchanges, and stipulate that it is not allowed to manage services in the name of the person, close relatives and other specific stakeholders. The enterprise seeks illegitimate interests in financing, borrowing, investment and financial management.
Li Pinghai, former member of the Judicial Committee of the People's Court of Yongji City, a judge at the division level, and a post judge of the Executive Bureau, used his position to facilitate illegal loan sharking; Du Suolao, former deputy director of the Pinglu County Bureau of Industry and Commerce, illegally absorbed public deposits... The committee selected six typical negative cases of public officials participating in private lending in recent years to report to the party, further strict disciplines, use the things around them to educate the people around them, and require the city’s party members and cadres to learn from one another and learn from others.
"We have included the self-examination and self-correction report forms and commitments of public officials participating in private lending in violation of regulations and commitments into the integrity files of party members and leading cadres as an important basis for dealing with violations of regulations and disciplines." The person in charge of the Yuncheng Discipline Inspection Commission told reporters that it is currently the case. The city's 100,000 public officials checked and corrected themselves one by one against 22 questions in 4 areas, filled out "One Form, One Book", and found 126 problems through self-check and self-correction.
Disciplinary inspection and supervision agencies at all levels in Yuncheng adhere to problem-oriented and goal-oriented, integrating rectification tasks into the important content of daily supervision, and taking rectification of illegal participation in private lending as the focus of implementing daily supervision responsibilities. After the self-examination and self-correction phase is over, the special rectification work will continue to be deepened through centralized investigation and punishment, case-based reform, establishment of rules and regulations, and verification and acceptance.
"From the source of clues to the problem, in addition to reports from the masses, investigations and findings, there are also audits and court transfers." The relevant person in charge of the Yuncheng Commission for Discipline Inspection said that they have carefully sorted out the illegal participation of public officials since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. For clues to private lending issues, on the other hand, it has been connected with the public security, procuratorate, and courts to screen the illegal borrowing and illegal fund-raising cases of public officials that have been handled in recent years.
In recent years, in response to the problems discovered during the supervision and enforcement of disciplines, in addition to doing a good job in the rectification and reform of the unit that committed the case, all localities have generally focused on learning from one another and promoting systematic rectification.
The Zhejiang Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision carried out a special control of illegal borrowing by leading cadres. Since last year, the province has handled 272 illegal borrowing, involving an amount of 418 million yuan. On this basis, the province formulated and promulgated the "Provisions on Preventing Leading Cadres from Participating in Private Lending Behaviors in Violation of Regulations", which prohibits any private lending relationship with management service targets, such as lending, guarantee, and intermediary introduction. It is not allowed to charge interest, or conduct profit-making activities in the form of charging introduction fees, intermediary fees, or paid guarantee fees. It clearly stipulates that according to the seriousness of the circumstances of leading cadres' illegal participation in private lending, talk reminders, criticism and education, organization and handling until party discipline and government sanctions; suspected crimes shall be transferred to judicial organs for handling in accordance with the law.
In response to the "Illegal Borrowing, Illegal Shareholding, Illegal Property Transactions" and "One Family, Two Systems" conflicts of interest among party members and cadres discovered during the investigation and handling of the case, Jinhua City carried out in-depth "Three Cleanups and One Standardization" special operations, with more than 65,000 party members. The cadres conducted self-examination, reminded 471 party members and cadres involved in violations of discipline and regulations to talk to, criticized education or ordered 223 to be inspected, organized and handled 22 people, and 46 people were filed for party discipline and government affairs.
Recently, according to the fact that some grassroots cadres have participated in private lending in the supervision work in recent years, and individual bosses have “encircled hunting” under the pretext of borrowing, the Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Foshan City, Guangdong Province is establishing a clean government for 1,132 disciplinary inspection and supervision cadres in the city. In the process of filing, for the first time, “I and my spouse or in the name of others borrowing loans from my management and service targets, social bosses”, “I, my spouse, children and their spouses are the owners or co-owners of the property” and “I, Spouse, children and their spouse’s business-run enterprises” and other relevant information. In order to prevent under-reporting, the city will conduct random inspections. If it is found that the report is not truthful or falsified, it will be criticized, educated, organized, or disciplinary sanctioned depending on the circumstances. (Our reporter Li Lingna)