Report typical cases of new corruption and resolutely recover illegal profits from bribery
Strictly investigate bribery in the name of cooperative investment
Wan Kai, former deputy secretary of the Ganzhou Municipal Party Committee and former mayor of Jiangxi Province, was "double-opened" and reported that he "illegally received huge amounts of property through cooperative investment, debt relief, and nominal salary payment"; former member of the party group and deputy director of the Wenzhou Municipal People's Political Consultative Conference, Zhejiang Province Chairman Lin Yijun was "double fired" and reported that he was "keen on 'cooperative investment' with private business owners and willing to be 'hunted'"... In the disciplinary inspection and supervision agency case report, leading cadres illegally accepted property in the name of "cooperative investment" Appear frequently.
The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection called for “severely punishing corruption involving political and business collusion as a top priority.”
According to regulations, investment and shareholding are profit-making activities, and party members, cadres, and public officials are not allowed to engage in or participate in violation of regulations.
How do some leading cadres conceal the essence of power-for-money transactions in the name of "cooperative investment"?
How do the disciplinary inspection and supervision agencies dig into and investigate new types of bribery cases with hidden mutations?
How to implement systematic governance and cut off the chain of interests that breed corruption?
Reporters conducted interviews and reports.
When being an anonymous shareholder and appointing a third party to buy shares... some leading cadres use the name of investment to cover up the fact of accepting bribes, using complicated concealment methods.
In December 2023, the Hubei Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision reported five typical cases of new bribery, including the issue of Yang Degao, former Party Committee Member and Vice President of the Hubei Branch of the China Development Bank, accepting bribes in the name of "cooperative investment."
From 2005 to 2014, Yang Degao took advantage of his position to work with three other state staff to help a company obtain a loan from the Hubei Branch of the China Development Bank.
During this period, Yang Degao and four others proposed to Zhao Moumou, the person in charge of the company, to invest 2 million yuan in the company and receive fixed dividends every year.
In order to thank Yang Degao and others for their help, Zhao Moumou agreed to the "investment and shareholding" plan.
Yang Degao and others received "dividend payments" from the company seven times, totaling 8 million yuan, and recovered the principal of 2 million yuan.
After identification, Yang Degao and four other people received a total of more than 7.48 million yuan in income higher than their investment income, of which Yang Degao received more than 3.74 million yuan in income higher than their investment income.
Yang Degao also had other serious violations of discipline and law. He was expelled from the party, had his retirement benefits revoked, and was sentenced to 12 years in prison for accepting bribes.
In recent years, there have been many instances of bribery being offered and accepted under the guise of “cooperative investment” and it is highly concealed.
According to the "Opinions on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Bribery" of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate, "On the Issue of Accepting Bribery in the Name of Starting a Company and Other Cooperative Investments": State functionaries use the convenience of their positions to seek benefits for their clients. If the interests are invested by the trustee, "cooperate" to start a company or make other "cooperative" investments, they will be punished as accepting bribes.
The amount of bribe accepted is the amount of capital contributed by the trustee to the state staff.
State functionaries who take advantage of their positions to seek benefits for their clients and obtain “profits” in the name of joint ventures or other joint investments without actually contributing capital or participating in management or operation shall be punished as accepting bribes.
Yang Haifeng, director of the Third Review and Investigation Office of the Discipline Inspection Commission of Suqian City, Jiangsu Province, analyzed that based on the above opinions, two elements must be met to determine the "cooperative investment" type of bribery: first, no actual investment, and second, no participation in management and operation.
If either of the two conditions does not apply, the crime of bribery is generally excluded.
However, in practice, it does not necessarily constitute a crime as long as the actual investment is made. If one of the following circumstances occurs, one may still be suspected of accepting bribes: first, when the company is actually operating and making profits, the profits distributed to state workers exceed their due earnings; The second is to distribute profits to state workers when the company itself has no actual operations or profits; the third is to distribute profits only to state workers when the company does not distribute profits to other shareholders.
Guo Jingwu, director of the Case Trial Office of the Discipline Inspection and Supervision Committee of Xianju County, Zhejiang Province, believes that "cooperative investment" bribery methods are hidden, complex, and diverse in form, including multiple types.
"Capital contribution on behalf of" type of bribery means that the bribee does not actually perform the capital contribution, and the briber contributes capital on behalf of the bribee, and the bribee receives dividends in proportion to the briber's investment on behalf of the briber; "direct profit" type of bribery, that is, the briber directly agrees to give shares, State functionaries do not actually contribute capital, but enjoy dividends according to their shares, which is essentially equivalent to "sitting on profits", and the amount of "profit" is determined as the amount of bribes; "excess profit" type of bribery, that is, although state functionaries actually perform capital contributions, , but the income obtained significantly exceeds the capital contribution ratio, or additional dividends are received in addition to the actual capital contribution ratio dividends, the amount of the additional dividends is the amount of bribery.
Covering up the actual bribery and acceptance in the name of investment is a distinctive feature of the "cooperative investment" type of bribery and acceptance.
Guo Jingwu said that party discipline regulations such as the Disciplinary Punishment Regulations and the Civil Servant Law have clear prohibitive requirements for party members and cadres and public officials to engage in or participate in for-profit activities.
In practice, some state officials are afraid of being investigated and punished, so they often sign "cooperative investment" agreements privately as anonymous shareholders, or conduct "cooperative investment" in the name of family members, relatives or a third party designated by them to hide their names. Invest in shares.
On the surface, state functionaries only use the name of others to conduct business and run enterprises in violation of regulations. However, when state functionaries do not actually contribute capital or participate in management and operation, but use their power to obtain "shares" and "income", this has become a typical hidden phenomenon. Sexual bribery.
In the bribery case of Shen Junyu, former member of the party committee and deputy general manager of the Asset Management Group of Hangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone in Zhejiang Province, Shen Junyu, knowing that he could not buy shares, injected funds by arranging relatives to hold the shares on his behalf, introducing third parties to purchase, etc., and became the founder of Hangzhou A "shadow shareholder" of a technology company and a new materials company; after knowing that the new materials company was losing money, he took advantage of his position to let others buy back his shares to ensure the safety of his funds.
Shen Junyu was sentenced to ten years and six months in prison and fined 700,000 yuan for taking bribes.
Based on comprehensive research and judgment from many aspects such as the authenticity of investment, the legitimacy of profits, and the relevance of authority, the veil of "marketization" and "legitimization" of "cooperative investment" type bribery has been unveiled.
Business activities generally consist of investment, operation and management and other elements.
Normal cooperative investments usually involve joint investment, shared risks, and shared benefits.
Accepting bribes in the name of "cooperative investment" refers to a situation where others make capital contributions or oneself make symbolic contributions, do not participate in business management, do not bear business risks, and just enjoy the benefits.
In practice, the "cooperative investment" behavior between state staff and the client is relatively complicated.
Zhang Jinghua, deputy director of the Case Trial Office of the Fuyang District Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, said that it must be analyzed based on the specific situation to determine whether the relevant behavior is a disciplinary violation of illegally engaging in profit-making activities, or a criminal act of accepting bribes in the name of "cooperation."
Zhang Jinghua analyzed that Article 103 of the Disciplinary Regulations stipulates six situations for engaging in profit-making activities in violation of relevant regulations, including running a business, owning shares or securities of unlisted companies (enterprises), buying and selling stocks or making other securities investments, Engage in paid intermediary activities, etc.
The essential characteristic of bribery is the transaction of power for money. The "cooperative investment" type of bribery is reflected in the use of power by public officials to invest in shares, thereby realizing profits from power.
In practice, the business activities involved in bribery are closely related to the scope of authority of public officials. Public officials can use their authority or the influence of their positions to provide assistance to business activities in terms of approval, appropriation, policy support, etc.
Chen Li, deputy director of the Ninth Review and Investigation Office of the Discipline Inspection Commission of Yichang City, Hubei Province, pointed out that to lift the veil of "marketization" and "legalization" covering "cooperative investment" bribery, first, verify the authenticity of the investment and find out whether Actual capital contribution or full capital contribution, actual participation in management and operation, whether there are other investments, etc.; second, verify the legitimacy of profits, find out the volume and distribution relationship of dividend funds, and bear investment losses. If a public official is Only enjoying the benefits without taking risks, or bearing a seriously unreasonable proportion of the risk of losses, is obviously against the laws of the market; third, verify the relevance of the authority and find out whether public officials use the convenience of their positions to seek benefits for the client.
Zeng New Year, former vice chairman of the CPPCC Wujiagang District, Yichang City.
He had been the "top leader" in the local urban construction field for a long time. He used his power to "cooperate" deeply with enterprises and engage in "cooperative investment" bribery.
Zeng New Year was from the same hometown as Tan Moumou and Li Moumou, the individual owners.
Many years ago, Zeng Xiannian negotiated with Tan and Li to "cooperate" to establish an engineering team, which was funded by Tan and Li. Zeng took advantage of his position to help undertake the project. The three agreed that although Zeng Xiannian would not actually contribute the capital, , but the profits were still distributed at a ratio of 20%. Since then, the profits have not been actually distributed due to various reasons.
The latter three used the 6 million yuan profit earned by the original engineering team as registered capital to establish a construction company. Zeng Xiannian held 20% of the company's shares in the name of his relatives without actually making an investment.
When the Yichang Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision was investigating the case of Zeng Xinyin, it simultaneously designated the county and city supervisory committees to investigate Tan and Li for alleged workplace bribery. It was discovered that Zeng Xinyin himself did not actually contribute the funds, but was instead financed by Tan and Li. Li Moumou contributed the capital on his behalf, and Zeng New Year did not participate in the operation and management. He only needed to help introduce the project.
When Tan Moumou and Li Moumou did not need a partnership and did not lack funds, Zeng New Year occupied the company's shares and received corresponding dividends, and did not actually bear any market risk.
After systematically sorting out the engineering projects that Tan Moumou and Li Moumou's companies have engaged in over the years, and comparing and analyzing them with Zeng New Year's employment experience, we verified relevant evidence and materials that Zeng New Year took advantage of his position to help the company contract projects.
In September 2022, Zeng New Year was expelled from the party and his retirement benefits were revoked according to regulations. He was later sentenced to 13 years in prison and fined 1 million yuan.
Compared with other types of bribery, the "cooperative investment" type of bribery is more concealed and more difficult to obtain evidence.
But as long as public officials receive benefits, flaws will exist.
Guo Liping, deputy director of the Third Discipline Inspection and Supervision Office of the Qiantang District Discipline Inspection Commission of Hangzhou City, said that when handling such cases, one must grasp the essence of power-for-money transactions and focus on comprehensive judgments from multiple aspects such as the experience of the two parties, the matters requested, and the impact of the position, in order to achieve Precisely crack down on new types of corruption and hidden corruption.
In order to "cover their eyes", some leading cadres do not directly accept shares or dividends from the client, but instruct the client to conduct transactions with a third party, using "agents" or "third parties" as intermediate links in bribery.
Zhang Yijun, director of the Seventh Discipline Inspection and Supervision Office of the Discipline Inspection Commission of Longmatan District, Luzhou City, Sichuan Province, analyzed that according to the relevant provisions of Article 94 of the Disciplinary Regulations and Article 388 of the Criminal Law, even if leading cadres have not directly accepted property from the trustee, , but to receive benefits through invisible "cooperative investment" methods, which still violates party discipline and state law, and needs to bear corresponding disciplinary and legal responsibilities. If it constitutes a criminal offense, it must be investigated for criminal liability in accordance with the law.
Insist on investigating both bribery and bribery, resolutely recover illegal profits from bribery, and cut off the chain of interests that breeds corruption.
The emergence of "cooperative investment" type of bribery is essentially the loosening of the ideological defenses of individual party members, cadres and public officials, and they are "hunted" by interested people, who then use their thoughts and energy to exploit loopholes and seek personal gain.
A small number of leading cadres who accept bribes in the name of "cooperative investment" believe that "cooperative investment" is more concealed and "safer".
Discipline inspection and supervision agencies must adhere to the combination of positive guidance and negative warnings, guide party members and cadres to always use the "steering wheel" of power, fasten the "seat belt" of integrity, and build a solid ideological foundation of "not wanting to be corrupt."
The Hubei Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision seriously investigated and reported new bribery cases that exposed hidden mutations and upgrades, urging party members, cadres, and public officials to take the cases as lessons and strictly abide by the bottom line of discipline and law; the Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Luojiang District, Quanzhou City, Fujian Province focused on typical cases and compiled Print confessions, film warning educational films, make the "hidden" bribery methods public, and use the people around you, the things around you, and disciplinary and legal provisions to wake up those who are still lucky and trying to wait for opportunities; the Discipline Inspection and Supervision Committee of Shishi City, Fujian Province organizes party members Cadres attend court trials for duty-related crimes and receive warning education.
The imperfect supervision and restriction mechanism and the hidden risk of power rent-seeking are another inducement for individual party members, cadres and public officials to accept bribes in the name of "cooperative investment".
It is necessary to tighten the institutional cage, make up for the shortcomings in supervision, plug management loopholes, and strive to achieve the transformation from case removal and key punishment to systematic rectification and overall governance improvement.
After the relevant cases occurred, the Discipline Inspection and Supervision Commissions of Fuyang District of Hangzhou City, Luojiang District of Quanzhou City and other places combined the rectification of individual cases with systematic prevention and source governance to find the integrity risk points and system loopholes in relevant positions, and targeted the deficiencies in supervision and management, risk prevention and control Establish rules and regulations in aspects such as imperfections.
Strengthen daily supervision and management, strengthen supervision and inspection of specific matters and key positions, ensure full coverage of management, management of people, and management of rights, promptly discover and correct emerging and tendentious problems, make daily supervision "lively", and strive to discover and punish Typical issues such as "shadow companies", "shadow shareholders", "option corruption", and the political and business "revolving door" will be subject to special rectification as appropriate.
Party members and cadres accept bribes in the name of "cooperative investment", which is inseparable from the "hunting" of some unscrupulous businessmen.
We must insist on investigating both bribery and bribery, intensify the punishment of bribery, recover and correct the improper benefits obtained from bribery, and cut off the chain of interests that breeds corruption.
When the Yichang Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision was investigating Zeng New Year's case, it promptly extracted the relevant electronic account data of Tan and Li's companies, and hired a forensic accounting appraisal agency to conduct research on the net assets of the bribery unit and company, and the costs and benefits of the projects obtained through bribery. Accounting was carried out, and the value and interest of the shares obtained from Zeng New Year's bribes were appraised, and it was clarified that the bribe proceeds and interest, and the amount of improper property benefits obtained from bribery should be recovered; the case handling personnel explained the policy to Tan Moumou and Li Moumou, and urged Turn over the illegal benefits obtained from bribery, and at the same time strengthen communication with the judicial authorities. It is recommended that the recovery of illegal benefits obtained from bribery be fully considered as a prerequisite for lighter punishment, so as to urge Tan Moumou and Li Moumou to pay the full amount in a timely manner. Turn it in.
After many efforts, Tan Moumou and Li Moumou's companies finally handed over the illegal benefits obtained from bribery before the case was transferred to the judicial authorities.
"When handling bribery cases, we must conscientiously perform our duties of recovering stolen goods and losses, try our best to recover illegal profits, and recover losses for the country to the greatest extent." Chen Li said that the briber or a third party holding or keeping stolen goods on his behalf should resolutely Recover.
Illegitimate property interests obtained from bribery shall be confiscated, recovered or ordered to be refunded and compensated in accordance with the law.
China Discipline Inspection and Supervision News reporter Han Yadong