On March 25, 2008, Chen Liangyu, the former Shanghai Municipal Party Committee Secretary was sentenced to 18 years in prison, marking the end of the long lasting Shanghai social security fund investigation. People are still speculating on its impact and the turmoil it has caused to party’s top level; it is obvious that this case deals not merely with financial fraud but rather with the power struggle within the party. The following is a description of the verdicts that some of the individuals imprisoned in the Shanghai social security scandal received. [1]
According to an analysis done by some Hong Kong media, the conviction of Chen Liangyu, the former Shanghai Municipal Party Committee Secretary, of 18 years in prison for bribery and the conviction of Chen Xitong, the former Beijing municipal party committee Secretary of 16 years in prison for embezzlement are both indeed "political crimes" and should not be viewed simply as crimes of bribery and corruption.
According to those media reports, the CCP is accustomed to using financial fraud charges or personal scandals as a cover for the political motive behind the matter.
Among those who were linked to the Shanghai Social Security fund scandal in 2006, were Chen Liangyu, 20 other local high-ranking officials, and prominent figures from the business circle allegedly involved.
Due to scale of the case, the defendants were split up and sent to three different locations in Shanghai, Jilin, and Anhui Provinces for trial.
The most recent verdict was on April 7 in Jilin Province when Zhang Rongkun was sentenced to 19 years in prison and 1.3 billion yuan of personal assets were confiscated. The verdict was viewed as a benchmark for Chen Liangyu’s sentence.
Zheng Enchong, a prominent Shanghai rights lawyer stated that, "this (Shanghai Social Security fund scandal) is the result of a power struggle within the party." He said, "Jiang Zemin is Chen Liangyu’s big brother. Jiang was aware of Chen’s misconduct as early as when Chen was the party secretary for the Shanghai Huangpu district all the way until he was promoted to the position of Municipal Party Committee Secretary. Jiang hand picked and promoted Chen. The current circumstances suggest that the CCP high level authorities only wanted to use Chen Liangyu’s trial to call an end to the investigation."
Zheng Enchong said, "There is an internal agreement that no one will expose anything that is related to Jiang Zemin and Huang Ju."
Zheng continuted, "I am extremely disappointed! On Chen Liangyu’s case, we have waited for a total of ten years for this date! More than 200 people have been persecuted to death and more than 2,000 people are still imprisoned. This day has finally come."
According to the number released by the National Audit Office last month, the Shanghai Social Security Fund scandal involved 33.9 billion yuan, which is higher than the original estimate of 480 million yuan.
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| Name | Former Post |
Trial Date & Location | Charge | Verdict |
| Chen Liangyu | Former CCP Politburo member, and Shanghai Municipal Party Committee Secretary | March 25, 2008. The Second Intermediate People’s Court of Tianjin | Bribery & abuse of power | 18 years in prison |
| Zhang Rongkun | Former chairman of the Fuxi Investment Holding Company in Shanghai | Dec 27, 2007. The Intermediate People’s Court of Songyuan, Jilin Province | Five charges： bribing officials, company executives, manipulating stocks prices, fraudulent bond issuing and the illegal withdrawal of capital contributions | 19 years in prison |
| Zhu Junyi | Former Shanghai Labor & Social Security Bureau Chief | Sep 23, 2007. The Intermediate People’s Court of Changchun, Jilin Province | 1.6 million yuan in bribes, embezzlement, funding of 1 billion yuan and abuse of power | 18 years in prison |
| Lu Qiwei | Former Chief of the Department of Pension Funds of the Labor & Social Security Bureau of Shanghai | Sep 23, 2007. The Intermediate People’s Court of Changchun, Jilin Province | 1 million yuan in bribes | 8 years in prison |
| Wu Minglie | Former Head of the Shanghai New Huangpu Group Company (SNHGC) | Sep 23, 2007.The Intermediate People’s Court of Changchun, Jilin Province | Involved in the Huawen and New Huangpu case;10 million yuan in bribes | Life in prison |
| Wang Zheng | Former General Vice-President of the Huamen Media Investment Corporation | Sept 23, 2007. The Intermediate People’s Court of Changchun, Jilin Province | Involved in the Huawen buyout of New Huangpu case; 10 million yuan in bribes | 3 years in prison |
| Han Guozhang | Former Vice President of the Shanghai Electric Group | Sep 23, 2007. The Intermediate People’s Court of Changchun, Jilin Province | Involved in the Shanghai Electric Group case; 6 million yuan in bribes | Life in prison |
| Li Songjian | Former Board Director of Shanghai Mingyuan Group & non-executive director of Shanghai Electric Group | Sep 23, 2007. The Intermediate People’s Court of Changchun, Jilin Province | Involved in the Shanghai Electric Group case; the embezzlement of 50 million yuan; 700,000 yuan in bribes | 18 months in prison |
| Wang Chenming | Former Board of Director of Shanghai Electric | Dec 20, 2007. The Intermediate People’s Court of Changchun, Jilin Province | Involved in the Shanghai Electric Group case; share corruption of 300 million Yuan with Yan Jinbao and Lu Tianming; 210,000 yuan in bribes | Death penalty |
| Sun Luyi | Former Director of the General Office of the Chinese Communist Party Shanghai Committee | Sep 25, 2007. The Intermediate People’s Court of Changchun, Jilin Province | More than 5 million yuan in bribes | 15 years in prison |
| Qin Yu | Former chief of Baoshan District in Shanghai | Sep 25, 2007. The Intermediate People’s Court of Changchun, Jilin Province | More than 6.82 million yuan in bribes | Life in prison & Property confiscation |
| Wang Guoxiong | Former general manager of Shanghai Industrial Investment Group | Sep 26, 2007. The Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People’s Court 5 million yuan in bribes | 5 million yuan in bribes | Life in prison & Property confiscation |
| Lin Baoheng | Former director of the Shanghai Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission | Sep 25, 2007. The Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People’s Court | 500,000 yuan in bribes | 8 years in prison |
| Wu Hongmei | Former Deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission | Sep 25, 2007. The Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People’s Court | 1.96 million yuan in bribes | 11 years in prison |
| Han Fanghe | Former chief executive of Hua An Fund Management Co | Sep 26, 2007. The Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People’s Court | More than 4 million yuan in bribes | 18 years in prison |
| Yu Zhifei | Former Chief of Shanghai’s F1 racing track | Jan 3, 2007. The Intermediate People’s Court of Wuhu, Anhui Province | The embezzlement of 1.05 million yuan | 4 years in prison & a 300,000 Yuan fine |
| Yin Guoyuan | Former deputy director of the Shanghai Housing, Land and Resource Administration | Waiting for trial | Charged with taking bribes, abuse of power | Unknown |
| Chen Chaoxian | Former director of Shanghai’s Changning District | Waiting for trial | Corruption | Unknown |
| Wang Weigong | Former vice general manager of Shanghai-based Shenergy Group | Waiting for trial | Received 9.5 million yuan in bribes from Zhang Rongkun | Unknown |
Endnote:
[1] The Epoch Times，April 13, 2008.
http://epochtimes.com/gb/8/4/13/n2080475.htm