Fu Guoping, former deputy director of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Xiangtan City, Hunan Province, was "double-opened" for serious violations of discipline and law, and the notice pointed out that he "accepted bribes in hidden ways such as borrowing interest and interest"; Liu Weidong, former party secretary and chairman of Guangdong Guangsheng Holding Group Co., Ltd. It was "double-opened" and "obtained large returns through private lending"...Recently, the problem of illegal lending has repeatedly appeared in review and investigation reports. A number of typical cases have been exposed, and the discipline inspection and supervision agencies have been released to severely punish them in the name of borrowing interest. Exercising money transactions are a clear signal of violations of discipline and law.
The Communiqué of the Second Plenary Session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection stated that new types of corruption and hidden corruption will be resolutely investigated.
As a manifestation of new-type corruption and hidden corruption, party members and cadres use loans for personal gain. On the surface, they borrow money, but in essence they borrow power.
In response to such problems, how can the discipline inspection and supervision organs take the initiative to attack and deal with the system?
The journalist made an interview about this.
Lend loans to business owners in the jurisdiction to collect interest, once a year, and become a "professional money lender"
Self-determined interest, one-year settlement, lending to business owners in the jurisdiction to collect interest... For Yin Zhong, the former secretary of the Longchang Municipal Party Committee in Sichuan Province, using high interest rates to lend and accept bribes was once what he thought was a hidden "business".
At present, Yin Zhong has been expelled from the party and public office, and his suspected crimes have been transferred to the procuratorate for review and prosecution in accordance with the law, and the property involved has also been transferred.
Once, Wei, the owner of a construction company, asked Yin Zhong for help on the grounds that he needed a loan due to shortage of funds.
Through Yin Zhong's coordination, Wei obtained a bank loan.
Afterwards, Wei came to Yin Zhong's house and gave a "thank you fee" of 20,000 yuan.
Since Yin Zhong received the money, Wei has often had dinner and entertainment with Yin Zhong, and the two seem to have become so-called "friends".
"(Wei) started looking for me to do business, and wanted to engage in real estate development. At the same time, he told me that his business is still very good, and hoped that I would lend him some money and get me some high interest." Yin Zhong said.
Yin Zhong smelled the "window" of making a fortune, so how could he let go of the "business" that came to his door.
The two parties agreed that Yin Zhong would lend 600,000 yuan to Wei at an annual interest rate of 96%.
With only 600,000 yuan, Yin Zhong made a profit of 5.4 million yuan in just five years.
After tasting the sweetness, Yin Zhong followed the same pattern, and even used his position to force loans to business owners, and even charged a 100% annual interest rate at the highest.
From 2010 to 2015, Yin Zhong took the initiative to ask Li, the general manager of a certain company, for a loan on the grounds of taking care of the project, agreeing to an annual interest of 60% and a principal of 2.2 million yuan.
The high interest rate made it unbearable for Li, so he proposed to repay the principal and interest twice, and the interest was calculated at an annual rate of 24%.
While being noncommittal, Yin Zhong set up obstacles in his work and refused to approve the proposal for bidding, auctioning and listing of the project plot undertaken by Li for various reasons.
Li had no choice but to compromise and agreed to continue to pay interest at an annual rate of 60%.
According to the investigators, on the afternoon of the day Li agreed, Yin Zhong held a relevant meeting to review and approve Li's company's land plan, and staged a drama of "paying money in the morning and meeting in the afternoon".
After investigation, during the five years, Yin Zhong successively recovered more than 11.44 million yuan of principal and interest from Li, and made a profit of 9.24 million yuan.
Yin Zhong's desire became more and more difficult to fill.
He used the so-called "recycling model" to borrow from each other between bosses or directly convert the interest into the principal for the next year. He became a "professional moneylender" and made profits of more than 28 million yuan.
Not only earning high interest as a creditor, but also asking for bribes directly as a creditor.
In 2012, Zhou, the owner of a real estate company, approached Yin Zhong, hoping to undertake a municipal park project.
Yin Zhong asked, however, that his family's funds were tight and he could "borrow" 5 million yuan.
Zhou lent Yin Zhong 5 million yuan at one time, but Yin Zhong didn't say a word about when to repay the loan.
"For so many years, I have always been lucky, thinking that borrowing money to collect interest, share dividends, and borrowing money from business owners did not violate discipline or law.
Where does the loan money come from, how is the interest calculated, and who is the target, often involving issues such as abuse of power, use of power for personal gain, and enriching one's pocket
Normal private lending does not violate discipline or law, but some party members and cadres use their powers or positional influence to transfer benefits in the name of lending, which has bad influence and profound lessons.
"Related cases show the characteristics of concealed behavior and various forms." Dai Changliang, deputy director of the Fourth Discipline Inspection and Supervision Office of Jiande City Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision, Zhejiang Province, analyzed that illegal lending behaviors are often under the guise of private lending, through a series of invisible mutations means of power-for-money transactions.
Some party members and leading cadres even operate loans and collect interest through specific related parties, hiding themselves behind the scenes, making illegal behavior double "invisible".
From the source of funds, some party members and leading cadres use their own funds, while others are "empty wolves", first obtaining low-interest loans from banks or borrowing from management service objects without interest or low interest, and then using their powers or position influence On-lending funds at high interest rates to management service objects.
For example, Luo Fuyang, a former member of the party group and deputy mayor of the People's Government of Fuzhou City, Jiangxi Province, and former party secretary and director of the Municipal Public Security Bureau, raised funds through bank loans and other means, and then lent high-interest loans to management service targets Chen Moumou and others, which violated regulations. Profit of more than 6.5 million yuan.
Taking funds from financial institutions to lend to others and earning high interest rate spreads not only violates the party's integrity and discipline, but also violates relevant state regulations, and seriously disrupts the normal financial order.
If the amount of profit is huge and crosses the "red line" of the criminal law, it constitutes a crime of usury.
The surname of public funds is public, but some people have "calculated" to use public funds to make private loans.
Li Guirong, a former staff member of the Management Committee of the Administrative Service Center of Taining County People's Government, Sanming City, Fujian Province, took advantage of his position to misappropriate 6.72 million yuan of security deposits for public resource transactions several times, illegally lent them to others for profit-making activities, and illegally profited from them.
Party members and cadres take advantage of their positions to lend public funds to others in violation of regulations and obtain interest in violation of regulations, which seriously infringes on the ownership of public property, violates party discipline and is suspected of crimes committed by duty.
In fact, misappropriating public funds for other people's use also constitutes the crime of embezzling public funds.
On May 9, 2022, the Taining County People's Court sentenced Li Guirong to 3 years and 3 months in prison for embezzling public funds.
From the point of view of the loan relationship, some people extort bribes in the name of borrowing money, borrowing and occupying the money of management and service objects for a long time, with an indefinite repayment period and no interest payment.
Some people act as creditors under the guise of private lending, lend their own funds to management service objects, and charge high interest rates for profit.
There are also people who "intermediate" loans for profit, act as brokers, and use their power and work to engage in paid intermediary activities.
This not only disrupts the order of the market economy, but also easily affects party members and cadres in handling affairs impartially and enforcing the law impartially, and induces corruption such as power-seeking and power-for-money transactions.
"If he wasn't a leader, I wouldn't have borrowed money from him at a 'high interest rate'. It was for the power in his hands..." A few days ago, Huang, the actual controller of a company in Jiangsu, asked Jinhu, Jiangsu Province The investigators of the County Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervisory Committee explained their motives for bribery.
There is no unreasonable show of favor in the world, and the people involved in the loan are staring at the power in the hands of party members and cadres.
According to the investigators, Huang mainly undertook the construction of civil engineering projects in Huai'an, Jiangsu by means of affiliation with construction companies.
In February 2017, in order to win the bid for a certain engineering project, he borrowed a friend’s name from Guo, the general manager of Su Yanjingshen’s second branch, to borrow 200,000 yuan, which was higher than the interest rate of bank loans and normal private loans for the same period, and agreed monthly The interest is 5% of the principal, and 174,000 yuan of interest has been paid to Mr. Guo successively as a "thank you fee".
Where does the loan money come from, how to calculate the interest, and who is the target, often involving issues such as abuse of power, use of power for personal gain, and enriching one's own pocket.
"This kind of borrowing and lending relationship attached to the position and power influence, no matter how concealed and mutated it is in form, is essentially the alienation and abuse of public power, which is a power-for-money transaction." The comrade in charge of the Jinhu County Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision said.
There is an essential difference between illegal lending and normal lending, and related job and authority behaviors occur based on power-money transactions
Party members and cadres illegally participate in private lending, especially lending to management service objects, helping borrowers seek benefits and charging high interest, which is suspected of violating discipline and law.
According to Article 90 of the "Regulations on Disciplinary Actions of the Communist Party of China", if large returns are obtained through private lending and other financial activities, which affect the fair execution of official duties, and the circumstances are serious, a warning or serious warning will be given; if the circumstances are serious, the party will be revoked Internal positions, party probation, or expulsion from the party.
Article 385 of the Criminal Law stipulates that state functionaries who take advantage of their positions to solicit property from others, or illegally accept property from others to seek benefits for others, are guilty of accepting bribes.
State functionaries who, in their economic dealings, violate state regulations by accepting kickbacks and handling fees in various names, which belong to individuals, shall be punished as accepting bribes.
During his tenure as Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Development and Reform Bureau of Chun'an County, Zhejiang Province, Hu Xiangqi provided assistance to local business owner Hong's company in the planning and distribution of ready-mixed concrete production enterprises in the county, and special fund subsidies for bulk cement.
Knowing that Hong could get a loan from the bank, Hu Xiangqi still offered to lend Hong 1 million yuan, asking for a monthly interest rate of 2% and an annual interest rate of 24% for a period of 3 years and signing a loan agreement.
From January 2014 to January 2017, Hu Xiangqi collected a total of 720,000 yuan in interest from Hong.
Is it normal private lending or illegal lending?
Zhang Zhe, cadre of the Ninth Examination and Investigation Office of the Hangzhou Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision, told reporters that in this case, Hu Xiangqi signed a loan agreement with Hong. The normal bank loan, the contract stipulates that Hu Xiangqi can withdraw the principal at any time and Hong cannot repay it in advance within 3 years of the loan period, so it can be seen that this is actually an overlord clause among unequal civil subjects.
How to judge whether there is a violation of discipline or law?
"Normal lending behavior will not affect the fair execution of official duties, and the source of funds is legal, the whereabouts are clear, and the loan period, loan interest rate, etc. are reasonable. If party members and leading cadres rely on lending behavior, it will affect or may affect the fair execution of official duties and obtain high interest. According to Article 90 of the "Regulations on Disciplinary Actions of the Communist Party of China", it is a violation of discipline. If there is an act of taking advantage of one's position to seek illegitimate benefits for others, it is an illegal and criminal act." Zhang Zhe said.
Although normal private lending and illegal lending are similar in appearance, there are essential differences between the two.
The former is a loan relationship between equal civil and commercial subjects based on capital needs, while the latter is related to the behavior of duties and powers and occurs based on power-money transactions.
"Illegal lending behaviors are highly concealed and need to be distinguished from normal private lending. There are also difficulties in qualitative disposal and calculation of illegal amounts. Therefore, it is generally difficult to investigate and deal with cases of illegal lending, interest collection and bribery than ordinary bribery cases." Dai Changliang believes that, In practice, it can be grasped and distinguished from six aspects: first, whether the status of the borrower and the lender is equal; second, whether the loan relationship is based on the trust between acquaintances; third, whether there are reasonable and basic facts for the borrowing behavior; Whether the behavior has a normal performance risk, five depends on whether the transaction behavior is fair, and six depends on whether there are profit-making matters.
Strictly investigate party members and cadres who engage in profit transfer in the name of borrowing, disguised bribery and other violations of discipline and law, and build a strong line of defense for the clean operation of power
As one of the manifestations of new-type corruption and hidden corruption, the discipline inspection and supervision organs take the initiative to attack the problem of illegal lending, and strictly investigate party members and cadres who use borrowing in the name of profit transmission, disguised bribery and other violations of discipline and law, and consolidate the clean operation of power line of defense.
Establish rules and regulations and clarify boundaries.
In the process of discipline and law enforcement, the issue of borrowing interest and accepting bribes once faced problems such as insufficiently clear regulations on discipline and law crimes, unclear boundaries, and inconsistent standards for discipline and law enforcement.
In order to respond to the actual needs in a timely manner, many places refer to the relevant provisions of the existing party discipline laws and regulations, combined with local realities, and introduce specific and executable measures to regulate the borrowing behavior of party members and cadres.
Relevant departments of the Hunan Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision have conducted many investigations and researches on the issue of party members and cadres' loan interest collection and held symposiums, fully listened to the opinions of relevant units, and formed the "Qualitative Disposal and Evidence Suggestions for Party Members and Cadres' Loan and Interest Collection Behaviors" and related models in accordance with party discipline laws and regulations The guiding cases were sent to the province's discipline inspection and supervision system, with the aim of effectively punishing bribery and interest collection by clarifying misunderstandings, forming consensus, accurately characterizing, and classifying disposals.
The Discipline Inspection and Supervision Committee of Meishan City, Sichuan Province issued the "Meishan City Interim Measures for Prohibiting Leading Cadres to Participate in Private Lending in Violation", which expressly prohibits leading cadres and management service objects from carrying out private lending activities, arbitrarily obtaining credit funds for high-interest refinancing, and using their powers or the influence of their positions Carry out 9 kinds of behaviors such as guarantee, intermediary introduction, and illegal absorption of public deposits, and clarify the boundaries between party members and cadres and management service objects.
Strictly enforce discipline and law enforcement, and strengthen discipline and law deterrence.
Disciplinary inspection and supervision agencies have stepped up supervision and inspection, clue investigation and review and investigation, and resolutely investigated and dealt with illegal lending behaviors.
"Behind the illegal participation of party members and cadres in private lending cases, there are often common problems of 'wind', 'corruption', and 'integration of wind and corruption. The special rectification of lending issues has determined the key points of rectification in four aspects: illegal borrowing, illegal lending, illegal participation in intermediary activities, and illegal meddling in lending activities. Through a special announcement to the outside world, a green channel for correspondence and visits has been opened, and party members and cadres with illegal lending problems are urged to take the initiative to clarify within a time limit question.
The Commission for Disciplinary Inspection and Supervision of Xinchang County, Zhejiang Province has established a working mechanism for the simultaneous investigation of "wind" and "corruption" of illegal private lending issues, using a combination of "self-inspection and self-correction + information sharing + public solicitation".
"Internally, we conduct a comprehensive investigation of letters and visits, case management, and relevant information obtained by various case-handling units, and cross-reference them in real time; externally, we deepen the work connection with the public security, procuratorate and judicial organs, and regularly sort out cases involving leading cadres' illegal loans from loan disputes. clues to the problem; for the society, an announcement on the solicitation of clues to the problem was issued in the media. A three-pronged approach was adopted, and no clue to the problem was missed.” The relevant person in charge of the Xinchang County Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision said.
Party members and cadres' illegal borrowing and borrowing are relatively hidden, and it is difficult to touch deep-rooted problems by self-examination and self-correction alone.
On the basis of listing the situation of private lending as a must-reported content such as major event reports of leading cadres and clean government files, the Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Xuyi County, Jiangsu Province used big data methods to coordinate the resources of functional departments such as public security, housing construction, and finance, and cooperated with 10 Yujia Bank has built a "cloud platform" for the investigation of illegal lending alliances, which conduct combined inquiries, information correlation, comparative verification, and dynamic supervision of party members and cadres' loans and other information, and promote the online and offline efforts of illegal lending governance.
As a state-owned financial institution, Chengdu Small and Medium Enterprise Financing Guarantee Co., Ltd. guarantees a high amount of guarantee and serves many clients.
In order to prevent illegal borrowing and using loans for personal gain, the company implements "internal + external" dual supervision on the guarantee business.
In terms of internal supervision, improve the coordination mechanism of "discipline inspection + audit + audit", and form a joint supervisory force around the key processes, key nodes and key positions of illegal lending and using loans for personal gain; in terms of external supervision, public reporting through multiple channels, Regularly distribute relevant questionnaires to customers, unblock the channels for reporting, mobilize the power of the masses, and open up the "last mile" to solve the problems of illegal lending and lending for personal gain.
Notify typical cases, strengthen ideological education, use cases to clarify discipline, and use cases to promote reform.
Disciplinary inspection and supervision agencies in Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan and other places notified many typical cases of party members and cadres borrowing money, collecting interest and accepting bribes, playing a warning and educational role and forming a strong deterrent.
The Disciplinary Commission and Supervisory Committee of Huaiyin District, Huai'an City, Jiangsu Province, with the theme of "Beware of Corruption Breeding in Lending Relationships", conducted a concentrated disciplinary lecture on party members and cadres in the district, and combined typical cases to analyze the conflicts between party members and cadres, management service objects and non-management service objects The two types of illegal lending relationships of "lending" and "borrowing" make party members and cadres vigilant about lending activities, do not cross the red line of discipline, and stick to the bottom line of the law.