Singer Qu Wanting's Weibo post again on the case of his mother Zhang Mingjie arouses attention
Overseas is not a paradise for asset transfer
Recently, singer Qu Wanting posted a post on Weibo, causing concern.
Some netizens shouted to him from the air: "My mother did not dare to return to the country once in 6 years after being detained, but used the stolen money abroad to be free. Is this your filial piety?" It is reported that Qu Wanting's mother Zhang Mingjie used to serve in the Harbin Development and Reform Commission of Heilongjiang Province Deputy Director and Director of the Office of the Municipal Leading Group for Urbanization. He was detained on suspicion of corruption, bribery and abuse of power in September 2014. The case is currently under trial.
Public opinion pays attention to this matter precisely because people hate corrupt elements for harming the interests of the country and the people, grabbing a lot of ill-gotten wealth, and satisfying the extravagant lives of relatives and children.
This is also true in some cases in reality. Some even have spouses and children emigrating overseas, transfer of property abroad, and ready to "jump the boat" at any time. Such leading cadres are separated from the party and the people, run counter to the original mission of the Communists, and must be subject to party discipline. The state law severely punishes them and pays due price for their violations of discipline and law.
Transfer property overseas, and run away whenever there is trouble
In June of this year, Hai Tao, a "red communication officer" who fled to Canada and a former investigator (at the director level) of the Operations Department of the Transport Bureau of the Ministry of Railways, returned to China to surrender.
Haitao fled in January 2013 and is a suspected criminal who fled after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
He obtained foreign permanent residency in violation of the regulations ten years before his retirement, and his spouse and children have all become foreign nationals, which is a typical "naked official".
"Naked official" refers to a cadre whose spouse has moved abroad or has no spouse and whose children have moved abroad.
In recent years investigated and dealt with cases of party members and cadres fleeing with money, a considerable number of corrupt elements became "naked officials" early, transferring property overseas, and fleeing whenever there is trouble, delusionally trying to evade the punishment of the law, and living in luxury cars and mansions. "Life in Paradise".
For corrupt elements whose ultimate goal is to flee, transferring large amounts of assets overseas is the basic step for fleeing, and it is also one of the basis and purposes of their fleeing.
Xiao Jianming, one of the "Hundred Hongtong Officers", was suspected of accepting large amounts of bribes in China during his tenure as the chairman of the state-owned Yunxi Group, and used his power to arrange for his relatives to spoof a large amount of salary in an overseas investment company of the Yunxi Group.
Before fleeing, Xiao Jianming arranged for his main relationship to move overseas through various means, and bought real estate overseas, thinking that he had "paved the way."
Mo Peifen, who is also one of the "hundred red-pass personnel", had already planned his escape.
From 2007 to 2011, when Mo Peifen was the project leader of Hangzhou Xixi Sunshine Industrial Co., Ltd. in Zhejiang Province, he was suspected of taking advantage of his position to illegally occupy the company's huge amount of funds by using false invoices and other means, and combined his husband and daughter Part of the proceeds from bribery are transferred to foreign accounts.
"Naked officials" are more likely to fearlessly greedy money
"A'naked official' is not necessarily a corrupt official, but a'naked official' is more likely to become a corrupt official because he has no worries and is more likely to have fearless greed." Associate Professor Wu Danhong of China University of Political Science and Law commented on "naked official."
For "naked officials" whose spouses and children live abroad, they are more likely to accept bribes to pay for the high living expenses of their families abroad.
After sending their spouses and children deliberately abroad, some "naked officials" transfer the stolen money to overseas family members in various ways, believing that even if they accidentally "capture the ship" and fail to escape, they can sacrifice one person and protect their families. The life of "good clothes and jade food".
Recently, Wen Min, the former director of the Office of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and former deputy director of the Economic and Information Commission, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the crimes of corruption, bribery, unidentified sources of huge amounts of property, concealing overseas deposits, and abuse of power.
Among Wenmin’s many violations of discipline and law, he moved funds through underground banks to purchase real estate in Melbourne for his daughter who was studying in Australia.
At the same time, in the name of his daughter, he exchanged renminbi into U.S. dollars through an abnormal business process and deposited it with OCBC Bank in Singapore to avoid his assets.
Wu Zhanhui, the former deputy secretary-general of the Dongguan Municipal Committee of Guangdong Province, transferred assets to relatives abroad even more crazily.
After he moved his pregnant wife to Hong Kong, "there was no worries", he began to accept bribes and launder money through underground banks. Before the incident, he transferred a total of 92 million Hong Kong dollars in assets overseas to purchase commercial housing for his wife. Daughter residence etc.
Public officials have the legal obligation to declare overseas deposits
Is overseas really a paradise for transferring stolen money and concealing income?
"Public officials have the statutory obligation to declare overseas deposits. Regardless of whether the source of the deposits is lawful, whether it is work remuneration, inheritance or acceptance of gifts within or outside the country, or illegal and criminal proceeds; and whether they are personally deposited overseas or entrusted People who are transferred and deposited abroad are all overseas deposits and should be declared truthfully.” The relevant person in charge of the Research Office of the State Supervision Commission of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection stated that this is a mandatory obligation imposed by the state on public officials. Party discipline, political discipline, and laws have Relevant specific regulations.
According to the second paragraph of Article 395 of the Criminal Law of my country, the deposits of state functionaries abroad shall be declared in accordance with state regulations.
Where the amount is relatively large and the concealment is not reported, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than two years or criminal detention; where the circumstances are relatively minor, they shall be given administrative sanctions by their unit or superior competent authority as appropriate.
A review of relevant reports reveals that among the recent charges of officials who were dismissed from horses, “concealing overseas deposits” is not uncommon.
For example, Chen Ronggui, former director of the Security Bureau of the Guangdong Provincial Public Security Bureau, was sentenced to 12 years and 9 months in prison for accepting bribes and concealing overseas deposits; Wu Jianrong, former deputy party secretary and chairman of Shanghai Airport Group, was convicted of accepting bribes and concealing overseas deposits. He was sentenced to twelve years in prison in the first instance, etc.
The crime of concealing overseas deposits draws a clear red line for public officials: Overseas is not extra-legal, even if they deliberately transfer the illicit money abroad, it will only add a crime to themselves in the end.
More than deposits.
According to relevant national regulations, public officials, their spouses and children working, living and studying abroad, as well as holding overseas bank deposits, purchasing real estate, investment, etc., are all personal related matters that need to be reported and must be reported to the unit or organization declare.
In January 2014, the "Regulations on the Selection and Appointment of Party and Government Leading Cadres" issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China clearly stated that: if the spouse has moved outside the country (territory); or there is no spouse and the children have moved outside the country (territory), they shall not be included in the inspection Object.
The personnel departments of organizations at all levels, in conjunction with the reporting of personal matters related to leading cadres, conduct a survey of "naked officials".
Nearly a thousand leading cadres who were in restricted positions and whose spouses or children were unwilling to give up emigrating, were eventually adjusted to their positions.
In 2017, the Party Central Committee revised and issued the "Provisions for Leading Cadres Reporting Individual Related Matters" and the "Measures for Handling the Results of the Report Verification of Leading Cadres' Individual Matters", further adjusted the report object, improved the content of the report, and conducted random checks and verification results. Institutionalize the handling and strengthen strict management of “naked officials”.
"It is not a trivial matter to report leading cadres' family affairs, property, etc., to the organization and accept supervision." Zheng Benfa, a professor at the Gansu Academy of Social Sciences, said that many "problematic" cadres behind concealing personal matters are violations of regulations and disciplines, or even violations of the law. The beginning of the behavior.
Grasping the problem of sexual orientation early can prevent small mistakes from becoming big mistakes.
In the view of Hong Huimin, vice chairman of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, it is inevitable that the net of “naked officials” governance will become tighter. He also suggested: “For the previous regulations, we must continue to increase enforcement, such as strengthening Spot checks and verifications of the declarations of relevant matters by leading cadres, and early detection and early disposal of existing problems."
Strengthen the supervision of public officials' remittances abroad
The reason why the "naked officials" caused public dissatisfaction is precisely because some "two-faced" cadres kept saying that they love the party and the country while using their power to find a way out for themselves and their families. Bad social impact.
The existence of this "two-faced man" is not unrelated to the lack of supervision.
Take Wenmin as an example. He has grown from a grassroots cadre to a department-level cadre. In the past 20 years, he has successively purchased 36 properties in Hainan, Zhuhai, Qingdao, Weihai, Baotou, Australia and other places, but has not been found and investigated.
In this regard, Deng Lianfan, vice-chairman of the China Anti-Corruption and Legal System Research Association, suggested that such detached and detached cadres must not be used, and spot checks in this area should be increased.
“It is necessary to strictly implement the system for checking and verifying personal matters, based on personal matters reports, refine the declaration matters, strictly review and increase the intensity of random checks, and use the public and media supervision of public opinion to improve the transparency of supervision.” Deng Lianfan said.
"It is recommended to strengthen the supervision of public officials’ remittances abroad. For example, establish a monitoring and reporting mechanism for public officials’ remittances abroad. The scope of monitoring can be extended to their spouses and children and other close relatives. The amount of remittance should be reported to the discipline inspection and supervision agency in a timely manner." Some experts said.
Make domestic stolen money "cannot be transferred out" and foreign stolen money "recovered"
The family or property of party leaders and cadres who are abroad and become “naked officials” are not only vulnerable to foreign surveillance, but under certain circumstances may also endanger national security.
"I don't have a penny of assets abroad. Isn't it in vain to engage in'sanctions'? Of course, I can also send $100 to Mr. Trump for freezing."
On August 7, the U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on 11 Chinese and Hong Kong officials including Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam. In addition to visas, services and goods, there is another important content: freezing private property in the United States.
In response, Luo Huining, director of the Liaison Office of the Central Committee, responded very stiffly.
While paying close attention to people and closing the door to death, my country is continuously increasing its efforts to recover stolen money, using government cooperation and illegal income confiscation procedures to search for, freeze, confiscate and return foreign stolen money, and strive to realize the "not hiding of domestic stolen money" The stolen money from abroad can be found and recovered.
On August 29, 2014, after my country revised the Criminal Procedure Law, the "first case of overseas recovery of stolen goods" was heard in Shangrao, Jiangxi.
Li Huabo, the former chief of the Economic Construction Unit of the Finance Bureau of Poyang County, Jiangxi Province, who absconded to Singapore and obtained permanent residency rights, was still abroad, but the confiscation procedure for illegal income stipulated in the amendment to my country’s Criminal Procedure Law in 2012 was for the confiscation of corrupt elements. Illegal gains provide a legal basis.
The Shangrao Intermediate People's Court ruled that the 29.53 million yuan of assets owned by Li Huabo and his wife in Singapore are illegal gains and should be confiscated according to law.
This trial of the defendant’s absence is of special significance and declares that my country's system of recovering stolen goods has been further improved.
"Fleeing corrupt officials were not caught in the past, and their illegal gains were difficult to recover in time. Now even if they transfer the stolen money abroad, it will be difficult to avoid them." said Huang Jingping, a professor at Renmin University of China Law School.
According to statistics, from 2014 to June 2020, my country recovered 7,831 people from more than 120 countries and regions, and recovered 19.654 billion yuan in stolen money. Among them, since the establishment of the State Supervision Commission, 3848 people have been recovered. 9.911 billion yuan of stolen money was recovered. The number of people recovered and the amount of stolen stolen goods have increased significantly year-on-year. The institutional advantages formed by the reform have been further transformed into governance efficiency in the field of stolen stolen goods recovery.
2020 will continue to be listed as the “year of work for recovering stolen goods”. The property involved in the case of corrupt persons fleeing abroad should be frozen and collected, and the punishment for corruption-related money laundering crimes should be increased. "No", "find and recover" foreign stolen money, and earnestly recover and return the people's property stolen by corrupt elements.
(Our reporter Li Yunshu)