If you don’t curb your greed, you will destroy yourself if you are not supervised.
Analysis of the case of serious disciplinary and illegal violations by Fang Zhixiu, former fourth-level investigator of the Hebei District People's Government Office of Tianjin
Reporter Cheng Wei, Xue Yang, correspondent Hu Xinri
Fang Zhixiu, female, was born in January 1962. She started working in September 1982 and joined the Communist Party of China in May 1996. He once served as accountant of Tianjin Institute of Metallurgical Materials; clerk, deputy chief clerk, deputy chief of the commerce section, deputy chief of the finance section, and chief of the legal section of the Hebei District Audit Bureau; section chief and deputy researcher of the finance section of the Hebei District People's Government Office , Level 4 researcher.
On November 24, 2021, the Tianjin Hebei District Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision launched a case review and investigation into Fang Zhixiu’s suspected serious violations of discipline and law. In June 2022, Fang Zhixiu was expelled from the party and dismissed from public office. In October 2022, Fang Zhixiu was sentenced to 13 years in prison and fined RMB 800,000 for corruption.
"If I could have my life over again, if there was a medicine for regret in this world, I would definitely choose to get rid of distracting thoughts, get rid of greed, follow the right path, live an innocent life, and do things cleanly." After dusting off the dust in his mind, Fang Zhixiu suddenly realized , shame, regret, sigh, but it is a pity that the time will never come and it will be too late to regret. Fang Zhixiu’s serious violations of discipline and law are concentrated in the financial field where he has worked for a long time and held leadership positions for many years. The amount is huge, the nature is bad, and the lessons are profound and alarming.
1 The spirit is "deficient in calcium" and gradually deteriorates.
During the detention period, when Fang Zhixiu recalled his mental journey, he still remembered the scene in May 1996 when he learned that he had joined the party organization and could not help crying with joy. “In my memory, that was a sacred and glorious moment. "As a young cadre with professional knowledge, Fang Zhixiu has gradually grown into an expert in financial work under the training of the organization, from being a clerk and deputy chief clerk of the Hebei District Audit Bureau to deputy section chief and section chief. In 2008, he was entrusted with an important task and transferred to the Hebei District People's Government Office as the Chief of the Finance Section, and quickly grew into a leading cadre in a key position. However, she betrayed the trust of the organization.
After serving as the chief of the Finance Section of the Hebei District People's Government Office, Fang Zhixiu not only did not guard against arrogance and impetuosity, but was modest and prudent. Instead, his selfishness became more and more inflated and gradually reached an uncontrollable level. He "always wanted to take advantage of the public and seek more benefits." Self-interest". In January 2011, she reached out to public funds for the first time. By falsely listing expenses, making false reimbursements, and reimbursing herself with bills at one-third of the normal expenditure amount, she "successfully" obtained 10,000 yuan from public funds. "Although I was worried, scared, and highly nervous at the time, after a period of time without being discovered, the excitement of succeeding in corruption took over deep in my heart," she confessed. After that, Fang Zhixiu even reimbursed himself and his family for shopping, dining, taxis, car maintenance, gas, property fees, etc. for personal gain.
Once you relax mentally, your mind will become overgrown with weeds. Fang Zhixiu's gradual deterioration is certainly the result of multiple complex factors intertwined and jointly catalyzed by each other, but his failure to focus on consolidating his roots ideologically, deviating from his original intention, and losing his ideals and beliefs are undoubtedly the most fundamental reasons.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, comprehensive and strict governance of the party has continued to be advanced in depth, and party spirit education and warning education have been carried out in depth. Fang Zhixiu not only failed to take advantage of the opportunity of study and education to "replenish calcium" and "strengthen the bones", but felt that his "work has been over." "It's very good. I'm very familiar with the business, so it's OK." When participating in the unit's theoretical study and organizational activities, I was distracted and the ground was wet after the rain.
Despite the continued high-pressure anti-corruption situation, Fang Zhixiu still refuses to stop. According to statistics, from 2012 to 2015, the number of reimbursements Fang Zhixiu made each year and the total amount of corruption increased by about three times year by year. In 2018, Fang Zhixiu boldly continued to commit corruption. There were three months in that year when the amount of corruption exceeded one million yuan in a single month, and the amount of corruption in a single month was as high as more than 1.71 million yuan. "Looking at the accounts and the wads of cash gives me a sense of accomplishment. It's like being addicted to drugs. If I don't reimburse or embezzle for a few days, I feel uncomfortable..." He violated disciplines and laws, and was so stupid because of his profit. ,Shocking.
If you are running around in your thoughts and do not strive for progress, you will suffer from all kinds of diseases in your life, which will eventually lead to bad consequences. During the review and investigation, Fang Zhixiu looked at his heart, "The answer is self-evident. My original intention is not there, my faith is not strong, I don't know where I came from, and I don't know where I'm going. The fundamental reason for all of this is that my ideals and beliefs have clouded my mind." Dust, thought and soul are infected with the virus." Fang Zhixiu, who lost his political soul, was controlled by the "demon" of greed, embarked on a path of no return that betrayed his original intention, lost his faith, and ended up in jail.
2 Greed causes trouble and slips from the right path into the wrong path
In the 1960s, Fang Zhixiu was born in an ordinary worker's family. The six members of the family were all supported by his father's income. The material conditions were not good, and the economic embarrassment and frugal life left a deep mark on Fang Zhixiu's heart. Faced with difficult life experiences, most people have developed the virtue of diligence and frugality, but Fang Zhixiu felt that "it was too scary to live a hard life since childhood" and came up with the idea that "if you have money, you will have everything".
After being transferred to the Hebei District People's Government Office as the Chief of the Finance Section, Fang Zhixiu was in his prime years as an officer and started his own business. He should have fulfilled his duties and fulfilled his responsibilities, but the money worship and hedonism deep in his heart were ready to stir up, and what followed was... It is because of his insatiable desires and bold actions that he cannibalizes public funds.
The most difficult thing in the world is the heart, and the most easily stained thing is the desire. Since her first successful attempt at embezzling public funds by chance in 2011, Fang Zhixiu's appetite has grown bigger and bigger as time goes by, and the 10,000 to 20,000 yuan in public funds she received from "entrained reimbursement" can no longer satisfy her. She began to search for the invoice issuer with a purpose. By chance, she found Bai Moumou (handling another case) and promised a small profit. The two hit it off and used false invoices to obtain large amounts of public funds. With the convenience of being a bill maker, Fang Zhixiu committed more and more embezzlements and the amount of corruption amounted to more than 6.2 million yuan in 2016 alone.
In the face of temptation, if you cannot keep your heart, your spiritual home will be easily occupied by the "thief of the heart" called greed, and you will step by step break through the bottom line of discipline and even commit crimes. According to statistics, Fang Zhixiu's corruption mainly occurred when she was a cadre at the department level. During this period, Fang Zhixiu's wife worked in a foreign company and her family was relatively well-off. However, she always felt that she was "living in a villa and opening a house in society". There is a huge gap between people with luxury cars and brand-name clothes." He believes that for a long time he has "worked overtime but not earned much, and he doesn't enjoy much as he gets older." "It will be too late if I don't think of ways to make more money and enjoy more. What’s the point of retiring?”
Driven by this abnormal psychology, her greed spewed out uncontrollably. From January 2011 to June 2019, Fang Zhixiu took advantage of his position and reimbursed his own consumption bills and false invoices at his work unit, embezzling a total of more than 27.68 million yuan in public funds in nine years.
Only when the mind is upright can the body be upright. When in public office, one should maintain integrity, be strict with oneself, use power with integrity, take the original intention and mission as a mirror, diligently cleanse the dirt of thoughts, always think about the harm of greed, and maintain a clean and honest body. However, Fang Zhixiu allowed the "thief in his heart" to cause trouble, which eventually led him to slip from the right path into the evil path step by step, and became the miser of the crater.
3 The system is running idle, causing problems to go undiscovered for a long time
Fang Zhixiu has been engaged in financial work for more than 30 years. He has worked in many financial positions in Hebei District. He is an expert in financial work and is very familiar with unit financial work. "Out of confidence in her professional abilities, her crime methods were both bold and direct, which was to obtain public funds by falsely listing expenses and making false reimbursements. At the same time, at the actual operation level, she was very cautious, professional and highly concealed. "Introduced by the case handler.
At first, Fang Zhixiu used bills signed by leaders to carry out reimbursements. Later, he directly purchased invoices to falsely list expenses and entered accounts for reimbursement without approval. The amount of reimbursement issued was mainly small bills of less than a few thousand yuan that were not easy to attract attention. The content was mainly: Fang Zhixiu has carefully planned in advance the expenditures on items that are not easily noticeable, such as stationery printing, accessories and consumables, and repair and maintenance expenses, as well as how many invoices to issue, what dates should be written, what items should be listed, and where the accounts should be paid from. Treat the public "money bag" as your own "cash machine".
In order to avoid supervision and facilitate personal gain, Fang Zhixiu gradually increased his control over the power of the department after serving as the chief of the Finance Section of the Hebei District People's Government Office. In order to prevent the cashier from discovering his corruption, Fang Zhixiu "shouldered" the accountant on the grounds of strengthening financial accounting vouchers and cash management, illegally keeping cash, checks and reserved seals, responsible for reimbursement and review, financial system accounting, Fang Zhixiu knew the username and password of the cashier account, which allowed her to enter the account privately and make false vouchers. She did not even allow the cashier to look at the accounting vouchers.
The long-term system suspension and weak supervision have encouraged Fang Zhixiu's luck mentality and become an important inducement for his corruption. It was not until 2019 that he was punished by the party for violating organizational disciplines by filling in personal matters and concealing real estate properties. He was afraid that this would lead to embezzlement of public funds, so he had no choice but to stop. In the past ten years, Fang Zhixiu’s criminal corruption has not been discovered. On the one hand, it is related to his familiarity with financial work and his ability to use every possible means to conceal it. On the other hand, it is related to his shelving the financial department system and avoiding internal and external supervision.
Fang Zhixiu’s criminal behavior for nearly ten years caused huge losses to the finance of Hebei District. A total of 9 persons responsible for the District Audit Bureau and the District Government Office involved in the case were placed on file for review and investigation, sending a strong signal that lapses in responsibility must be questioned and accountability must be strict.
Facts have proven that if power is not exercised in a standardized manner and there is a lack of restrictions and supervision, corrupt desires and behaviors can easily take advantage of the situation and become rampant. After the case of Fang Zhixiu, the Hebei District Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision insisted on supervision and rectification, through holding warning education conferences throughout the district, issuing case notifications, disciplinary inspection and supervision recommendations, and promoting the convening of the district government party group members' anti-corruption reflection meetings. , study rectification measures, encourage party members, cadres and public officials to learn lessons and draw lessons from them, and effectively enhance the governance efficiency of promoting the "three non-corruptions" in an integrated manner.
In response to the institutional problems exposed by the Fang Zhixiu case, the Hebei District Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision insisted on combining "immediate changes" with "long-term establishment", pushing the district government to select and supplement two full-time financial cadres, and adjust the division of labor between accounting and cashier positions. , revised and improved 8 systems and mechanisms such as the work rules of the Finance Department, financial internal control, revenue and expenditure management, etc. We will focus on the supervision and rectification of issues in the financial and accounting field, promote the district government office, district finance bureau, district audit bureau and other functional departments to establish a reminder mechanism for district-affiliated units to move their accounts, formulate a work plan for special financial inspections of district-affiliated units, and conduct 203 inspections of the district's 203 units Administrative institutions and 27 state-owned enterprises conducted special financial inspections, and supervised, tracked and rectified the implementation of 41 problems discovered. Promote the formulation of an implementation plan for exchange and rotation of financial personnel. Currently, 23 accounting personnel have been rotated and exchanged, and we continue to deepen the use of cases to promote reforms.
Fang Zhixiu’s Confessions (Excerpt)
I'm sorry for the organization! Since I joined the work, under the training of the party organization, I have grown from an ordinary cadre to a middle-level leading cadre. Every bit of my growth and progress has been given by the organization's care and concern. However, I did not want to be loyal to the party and share the party's worries. Instead, I used the power given by the organization as a tool for personal gain. What I did did tarnished the party's image among the people, corrupted the party's style and discipline, and failed the party organization's trust in me. training and expectations. I deeply regret that I turned a deaf ear to the organization’s earnest teachings, did not pay attention to the study of party discipline and state laws, lacked awe, and did not regard integrity and self-discipline as party spirit training and moral cultivation. Not only did I destroy the Great Wall, but I also ruined my life. I am willing to accept the punishment of the organization, and I am willing to sincerely repent and take responsibility for my violations of discipline and law.
I'm sorry for the unit! I have worked in the financial department for a long time and managed the "money bag" for the government office. This is all because of the trust of my unit and leaders in me. In this position, I should have been more strict, self-disciplined, honest and self-responsible in order to repay that trust and expectation. But what about me? The reward is to treat public power as a private weapon and public funds as personal gain! Now think about it, every money I embezzled not only added to the shackles I put on myself and the cage I built, but also brought indelible harm and shame to the company, affecting the public's view of the company and evaluate. If I could have my life over again, and if there was a medicine for regret in this world, I would definitely choose to get rid of distracting thoughts, eliminate greed, follow the right path, live an honest life, work cleanly, and add glory to the company instead of smearing and making a fool of myself. But everything is not the same. Maybe again. I am extremely ashamed and remorseful. I deeply repent and sincerely apologize for the harm and shame I have brought to my unit.
I'm sorry for my family! My mother is 94 years old. If I had not gone astray and violated disciplines and laws, I would still have been able to fulfill my filial piety and accompany her throughout her old age. But now I have ruined all of this with my own hands, and may even have lost my mother in the end. I'll never see you again. Thinking of this makes me feel like my heart aches. I'm so unfilial! My husband and I have been separated for a long time. Now that he has retired, we can finally reunite as a family and enjoy our old age together. But because of my illegal and criminal behavior, I couldn’t do it for a while. Now that I think about it, I was unable to do so because of fear and suffering. I really regret the situation where I lost my temper and quarreled with him for no reason! There is also my daughter, although she is married but the child is still young. I originally thought that after I retired, I would help take care of the grandson. How happy the family would be, but I brought shame and harm to them, leaving them in trouble. I am shameless in front of others. Think about how my grandson would feel when he grew up and knew that he had a grandma who was a corrupt person. How would he deal with himself? Now I miss them all the time, and fantasize about being with them countless times. Bit by bit of past events come to mind, and a word, an action, or a smile may make me burst into tears. I ruined all this with my own hands! I'm not a good daughter, a good wife, a good mother, or a good grandma. I'm sorry for you, and I'm really ashamed of what I did!
I kept recalling everything I had done, feeling extremely regretful, filled with mixed feelings, and ashamed. No one else is to blame for ending up like this, it’s all the fault of yourself. Writing a confession is the first time in my life, and I swear that it will also be my last time in this life. If there is an afterlife, I will never let myself embark on the road of no return from breaking the law and committing crimes! I deeply repent, I sincerely regret my sins, thank the organization for saving me in time, and I am willing to accept any punishment for my sins. I will spend the rest of my life sincerely repenting and reforming myself, repenting of my past mistakes, changing my mind, and striving to become a person who is beneficial to the organization, society, others, and my family. (China Discipline Inspection and Supervision News)