On April 18, the People's Court of Helan County, Yinchuan City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, publicly pronounced the first instance of the crime of organizing, leading, and participating in underworld organizations, including Ma Xingguo and other 18 defendants. The picture shows Ma Xingguo hearing the verdict. (Profile picture)
A few days ago, the reporter learned from the Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region that in the handling of Ma Xingguo’s gang-related cases under the supervision of the National Anti-gang Organization, the disciplinary inspection and supervision agency of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region focused on finding out the formation process of Ma Xingguo’s gang-related organizations and digging into relevant The responsibility of local party committee governments, political and legal agencies, and regulatory agencies not only severely punishes the "official umbrella" and "police umbrella", but also investigates the problems of negligence and formalism, and has eliminated a number of "banal umbrellas."
Ma Xingguo is a native of Xiji County, Guyuan City, Ningxia. In the past 20 years, he has organized illegal transfers and reselling of land use rights, as well as fraud, contract fraud, illegal detention, obstruction of public affairs, and sabotage of elections. In the event, the "Xiji Mayin Immigration Development Zone" was established by itself at the foot of Helan Mountain in the western part of Yinchuan City, and the management was carried out illegally, grabbing illegal economic benefits, and seriously disrupting the normal management of the local government.
How was such an unauthorized development zone formed? Why has it existed for many years but has not been investigated? What are the "protective umbrella" and "relationship networks" behind it? Reporters conducted an investigation.
Self-built "Development Zone" Self-built "Management Organization"
Less than 20 kilometers west from Yinchuan city, you came to Yinxi and Funing villages on Huaiyuan Road Street in Xixia District. The name of the village contains the local people's yearning for a better life.
In the 1990s, the area where the two villages were located was still a saline-alkali land covered with sand and rocks. In the words of the local people, it was a sandy nest with sand and rocks all year round.
Under the background of accelerating the development of agriculture and rural economy at that time, the Helan Mountain Farm and Ranch of the former Autonomous Region Agricultural Reclamation Bureau decided to develop state-owned wasteland by contract.
Soon after the implementation of the policy, Ma Xingguo began to contract 647 mu of land with a 30-year contract period on the grounds of solving the raw materials produced by the malt sugar factory. In fact, the "businessman" Ma Xingguo not only contracted land in the area to open up the wasteland to grow corn, but also mobilized some farmers to emigrate here to work for them. Later, he gradually began to illegally transfer and resell the land in his hands to immigrants, and called this place "West Malaysia Silver", which means that "the Xiji people moved to Yinchuan under the leadership of Ma Xingguo."
According to investigations, Ma Xingguo started illegally reselling land in 1997. Ever since he tasted the benefits of illegal land reselling, Ma Xingguo was no longer satisfied with simply planting corn to produce caramel. Since then, he privately contracted and transferred the land from the Helan Mountain Farm and Ranch employees and other contractors, and then illegally transferred and resold it to immigrants at a high price. By the time of the case, the total land area involved had exceeded 3,000 mu, and Ma Xingguo and others obtained it. Illegal income exceeds 10 million yuan.
"Not only did he cleverly set up a name to collect land fees, land contract fees, homestead taxes, and other miscellaneous fees, but the immigrants were also required to purchase materials from his sandstone factory, steel bar factory, etc. when building houses. If he did not follow suit, the materials would not come in. "The villager surnamed Ma, who had "purchased" land from Ma Xingguo, told reporters.
In order to ensure the sustainability of illegal gains, Ma Xingguo began to seek illegal control and management of this area.
In August 2003, without the approval of any institution or organization, Ma Xingguo set up the "West Malaysia Bank Immigration Development Zone" (also known as West Malaysia Bank Development Zone) by fraudulently obtaining letters of introduction and illegally obtaining seals. Area).
"Ma Xingguo named himself'Director of West Malaysia Development Zone" and established a management organization to appoint his family and clan members as managers." The relevant person in charge of the Yinchuan Municipal Legal Committee disclosed that after the so-called development zone was established, Ma Xingguo began to pass false Propaganda and other methods have encouraged people in Xiji County and other places to emigrate here, and illegally manage the area in groups, and act on behalf of the government.
In September 2008, 17 administrative villages and water management stations were born in the "West Malaysia Bank". Ma Xingguo appointed the heads of the villages and water management stations by himself, and issued them in the name of "West Malaysia Bank". The document said, "At that time, I thought that Ma Xingguo was sent by Xiji County, and everything seemed normal." said a villager surnamed Ma.
While deceiving the masses, Ma Xingguo deceived the relevant departments of Xiji County, claiming that there were more than 50 party members in the local area, and applied for the establishment of the Party branch of the West Malayan Immigration Development Zone in Xiji County. Without verifying the true status of the number of party members, the Xiji County Working Committee agreed to establish a temporary branch committee of the “Xima Yin” branch in Xiji County of the Communist Party of China. The branch is subordinate to the general party branch of the County Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, and Ma Xingguo is the party branch secretary.
After creating a complete "organizational structure", Ma Xingguo's illegal management has become more and more intensified. His nephews, grand-nephews, office workers and other clan forces and nepotism have served as branch committee members, so-called village chiefs, station masters, and other positions. They have used illegal land purchases and monopolization of sand and steel materials in the village to gain profits.
Not only that, Ma Xingguo also set up a security team, equipped with uniform uniforms, hot pepper water, electric batons and other equipment, harassing, bullying, and beating the people with violence, threats, intimidation and other means, intervening in civil disputes, and forcing local people to accept their illegality. management. "On the one hand, it is to conduct illegal internal management, and on the other hand, it is to counter external investigations." The case handler introduced.
In the impression of Zhang Weitao, director of the Third Discipline Inspection and Supervision Office of the Xixia District Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision, Yinchuan City, the "West Malaysia Bank" had been completely controlled by Ma Xingguo at the time. Witnesses were invited to talk outside, and would not go to the area lightly, so as not to get rid of the grass."
Another case investigator introduced that Ma Xingguo had set up many "secret guards" at the entrance of the area, "As long as outsiders enter, Ma Xingguo will know immediately."
Behind the "Three Regarding" is corruption and inaction
Why has such an illegal community less than 20 kilometers away from Yinchuan urban area not been governed?
"It was a typical'three-regardless' area at the time." Tian Xiaobo, deputy secretary of the Yinchuan Discipline Inspection Commission and deputy director of the Supervision Commission, who participated in the handling of the case, said that Xiji County, which is responsible for immigration management, is nearly 400 kilometers away and cannot be effectively supervised. The Bureau of Land Reclamation, which provides land, has no corresponding law enforcement powers and is unable to supervise its illegal activities; Xixia District, where immigrants live, has no right to supervise people and land.
The investigation found that in the process of the Ma Xingguo gang-related organization and the "West Malaysia Bank" taking hold, the relevant departments of the autonomous region and the functional departments of Xiji County and Xixia District have all paid attention to the immigration activities carried out in this area. Investigations or measures have been taken, but individual "protective umbrellas" involving gangs and corruption, a large number of inactions, chaotic acts, and formalistic "banal umbrellas" have directly affected the investigation and handling of the problem.
"The most typical thing is the establishment of a temporary party branch and Ma Xingguo's one-time violation of the rules and the development of more than 50 party members, but they were able to pass the examination and approval at various levels." The case handler introduced.
The investigation revealed that in November 2008, after receiving Ma Xingguo’s application for the establishment of a general party branch, the Xiji County Party Committee Organization Department sent a deputy minister to lead a team to investigate the situation of local party members. During the investigation, the investigation team did not verify the situation of party members. Instead, he directly quoted the party member data in Ma Xingguo's application, and reported and suggested the establishment of a "West Malaysia Bank" temporary party branch accordingly.
Subsequently, upon the instruction of the then head of the Organization Department of the Xiji County Party Committee, the then secretary of the work committee of the county-level organs arranged for the secretary of the Party branch of the County Human Resources and Social Security Bureau to be responsible for the establishment of the temporary party branch. According to a report obtained by the reporter, Ma Xingguo used the report and instructions provided by Ma Xingguo in the reports and instructions on the establishment of the temporary party branch by the Xiji County Work Committee, the County Human Resources and Social Security Bureau and other units and organizations. According to the statistics of “more than 50 party members”, the relevant departments of Xiji County have no base on the actual number of party members at that time.
According to local people, after the establishment of the temporary party branch, Ma Xingguo began to frantically recruit party members to win people's hearts. "Joining the party is good, being able to be an official, and it will be approved very soon" said Ma Xingguo.
"Afterwards, many party members who joined at that time also admitted that joining the party was too easy and there was no need to investigate." Yang Jianfu, executive deputy director of the Organization Department of the Xiji County Party Committee, introduced. In February 2012, Ma Xingguo requested membership by fabricating inspection materials and forging meeting minutes. The General Party Branch of the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau of Xiji County determined that the 50 people it provided were reserve party members. In response to the leaky materials, the leader of the Party branch of the Human Resources and Social Affairs Bureau not only approved the issuance, but also instructed his subordinates to "modify the materials as appropriate."
Such inaction and chaos not only indulged the formation and development of Ma Xingguo's triad organization, but also affected relevant departments to find problems in a timely manner and rectify them.
In October 2014, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region established the "West Malaysia Bank" spontaneous immigration investigation leading group to conduct a thorough investigation of the relevant situation. However, the investigation team at that time did not go deep into the local area to carry out an effective investigation, and formed an investigation report based solely on the population and land unilaterally provided by Ma Xingguo.
Not only that, the relevant person in charge of the investigation team also allowed Ma Xingguo to look through the report and report it to the party committee and government of the autonomous region after agreeing to provide false data to higher-level departments, which misled the autonomous region to understand the true situation.
In addition, in the process of Ma Xingguo's various honors and personal capital, the negligence of individual units and individuals also played a role in fueling the flames.
In 2015, when the Guyuan City Civilization Office launched the selection of "Guyuan Good Guys", the relevant person in charge only paid attention to some reports of Ma Xingguo and "West Malaysia Bank" in the media, and listed them as "Guyuan Good Guys" without verification. "The candidate was elected and later recommended Ma Xingguo to the Civilization Office of the Autonomous Region. Coupled with the lack of strict inspection and control by relevant units, Ma Xingguo has won various honors such as "Good Chinese" in violation of regulations, forming the illusion of a halo, and providing conditions for him to build a personal image and become a success.
"Individual party members and leading cadres not only neglected their duties and responsibilities, they turned a deaf ear to Ma Xingguo's violations of discipline and law, and even illegally participated in it." According to the investigator, several cadres including the then chief prosecutor of the Xixia District People's Procuratorate, have an illegal relationship with Ma Xingguo. Some of the land transactions also accepted bribes during the handover of West Malaysia Bank and acted as a "protective umbrella."
"Ma Xingguo's crime-related organization's development has provided invisible protection for the development of Ma Xingguo's criminal organization." Tian Xiaobo believes.
Deeply digging and thoroughly investigating the broken net of umbrella
In 2016, the "West Malaysia Development Zone" that had been illegally existing for 13 years was dealt with.
In January of that year, the General Office of the Party Committee of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region issued Document No. 1 of the "Guiding Opinions on the Management of the Overall Transfer of West Malaysia Bank to Yinchuan City", and decided to abolish the “West Malaysia Bank Immigration Development Zone” and transfer the entire management to Yinchuan City.
During the transfer process, the nature of the head of the Ma Xingguo triad organization began to be exposed. "The meeting was held during the day and actively agreed to the handover, and at night, small moves were made to resist the handover." said Ma Weidong, secretary of the Party Working Committee of Huaiyuan Road Street, Xixia District, Yinchuan City.
The investigation showed that in the process of household registration identification, information collection, house registration, and other specific work, Ma Xingguo ostensibly supported the transfer, but in reality, he was guilty and violated, instructing the gang members to obstruct the task force’s household survey and registration, and expelling the staff from the people’s homes many times. Threatening and even beating the staff.
"In the process of the Xixia District Government's audit of public assets in the region, Ma Xingguo refused to provide the information required for the audit, which caused the audit to be suspended for a while." The relevant person in charge of the Xixia District involved in the takeover introduced.
Such a nasty crime-related issue has aroused great concern from the party committee and government of the autonomous region.
On May 14, 2018, under the arrangement and personal supervision of the main leaders of the Autonomous Region Party Committee, the public security organs filed a case for Ma Xingguo and arrested a total of 18 suspects including Ma Xingguo. The discipline inspection and supervision organs of the autonomous region immediately adopted the methods of unified command, upgraded handling, and hierarchical accountability, and synchronized investigations and investigations with the public security organs, thoroughly digging into the “protective umbrella” and “relationship network” behind the case, and severely punishing inaction and disorder. As, engage in formalism issues.
"District, city, and county-level discipline inspection and supervision agencies dealt with 51 people, including 5 department-level cadres, 19 department-level cadres, 27 department-level and below cadres, and 6 were identified as'protective umbrellas'." Many cadres, including the then director of the Civilization Office of the Autonomous Region and the director and deputy director of the Agricultural Reclamation Bureau, are still being dealt with seriously even though they have retired.
In addition, because the incident involved a long time, a wide range, and a large number of units and departments, the discipline inspection and supervision organs conducted talks reminders, ordered inspections, criticized education, etc. for cadres who had minor violations of discipline to help them learn lessons and prevent minor violations.
Focusing on repairing the harm of the "yellow umbrella" and eliminating the impact of illegal management, the Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region has supervised and promoted the joint management of all departments.
On April 23, 2019, the Organization Department of the Party Committee of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, the Organization Department of the Xixia District Committee of Yinchuan City, and the Organization Department of the Xiji County Party Committee held a party member meeting in Yinxi Village to notify the original "West Malaysia Bank" temporary party branch of the illegal development of party members. The 8 party members who have been promoted and the 42 reserve party members who have not been promoted shall not be recognized as party members. At the same time, they have notified and criticized the responsible units such as the Work Committee of the Xiji County Office, and severely dealt with the responsible persons in accordance with the cadre management authority. "Holding a warning and education conference at the scene of the crime played a deterrent effect, alerting the majority of cadres to shoulder their responsibilities." Yang Jianfu believes.
The original Helan Mountain Farm and Ranch (now part of Ningxia Land Reclamation Group), which was negligent in the management of Ma Xingguo’s contracted land, dealt with 6 cadres after the case occurred, and combined with special land management rectification, in-depth warning education was carried out to target land management For the existing problems in the cadres, we urged the establishment of 5 corresponding management systems to improve the system to regulate the exercise of power and promote the cadres to take responsibility.
"Xiji County has given 19 party disciplinary and government sanctions and 4 accountable persons, and carried out in-depth education on the subject of case-clearing discipline in the departments involved, and urged cadres to act with serious discipline." Ma Changlin, deputy secretary of the Xiji County Commission for Discipline Inspection and Deputy Director of the Supervisory Committee Introduction.
"Discipline inspection and supervision agencies must adhere to the basic and primary responsibility of supervision, and promptly discover and rectify problems such as inaction, chaos, and formalism in the cadre team. At the same time, create an incentive effect and include the incentives for cadres to take the role as a situation in the inspection. Inspectors, leading groups, and leading cadres will be held accountable in accordance with the regulations for the scope of assessment of inspections, leading groups and leading cadres.” The relevant person in charge of the Autonomous Region Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision said.
Under the deepening rectification and continuous work of departments at all levels, the former "West Malaysia Bank" area has straightened out the management relationship, the two villages of Yinxi and Funing established and improved the village party branch, and the new village "two committees" team united and cooperated. , The role of party organizations has been better played. "At present, the handover and takeover work has been successfully completed. In the next step, we will unite and lead the people of the two villages to make vigorous efforts to develop and strengthen the village-level collective economy, improve the village's infrastructure, and continue to improve the lives of the people." Ma Weidong said. (Our reporter Xue Peng)