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An Overview of Verdicts on Individuals Imprisoned in the Shanghai Social Security Fund Scandal

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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 Table: Verdicts of Individuals Imprisoned in the Shanghai Social Security Fund Scandal
 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

Reports | | |   Report

Human Rights Torch Relay in Mainland China

The large population of petitioners, a.k.a fang min, is becoming one of the biggest headache of Beijing regime before the Olympic Games. Recently, photos have appeared on overseas Chinese websites that petitioners are holding signs of Human Rights Torch Relay, a global Olympic campaign exposing Chinese regime’s human rights violations.

Source: Epoch Times, April 24, 2008
http://news.epochtimes.com/gb/8/4/24/n2093887.htm
Boxun, April 24, 2008
http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2008/04/200804240856.shtml

briefing_20080425_b.pngbriefing_20080425_c.pngbriefing_20080425_a.png

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

The Ninth China Information Security Conference

The Ninth China Information Security Conference took place on April 22, 2008, hosted by the China Center for Information Industry Development (CCIID) [1] and China lnfoworld. According to a Xinhua report, it was also “supported and guided” by the Professional Committee of Computer Security of China Computer Federation [2], the Institute of National Security Technology [3], the Information Security Research and Service Center under State Information Center [4], the National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team/Coordination Center [5], and the China Information Technology Security Certification Center. Liu Liehong, dean of CCIID, said that the goal of the national information industry is to “establish a credible environment and order for the Internet world.” Yan Ming, ex-director of the First Research Institute under the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), pointed out that securing information related to national security is facing outstanding challenges and increasing opportunities.

Source: Xinhua, April 24, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/it/2008-04/24/content_8043564.htm

Footnotes:
[1] An agency under Ministry of Information Industry (MII)
[2] An agency affiliated with the Eleventh Bureau of Ministry of Public Security
[3] The only research institute under Security Committee of CCCCP (Central Committee of Chinese Communist Party) and National Security Bureau (NSB)
[4] An agency under National Development and Reform Commission
[5] An agency under MII

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Three Provinces to Install Third Generation Nuclear Power Stations

According to the Changjiang Daily, Ouyang Yu, an academician of China Academy of Science and also known as the “Father of Nuclear Power,” disclosed a plan to build third generation nuclear power stations during the period of “Twelfth Five-year Plan.” The new generation nuclear power stations, to be constructed in Hubei, Hunan, and Jiangxi Province, are said to be more secure and economical. Ouyang said that China is capable of second generation nuclear power technology. At the present, there are 11 large scale nuclear power stations with a total capacity of 9.11 million kilowatt.

Source: China Central Television, April 24, 2008

http://news.cctv.com/china/20080424/100458.shtml

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Angola to Become China’s Largest Supplier of Crude Oil

According to the recent statistics from General Administration of Customs, Angola is replacing Saudi Arabia as the largest oil exporter to China. In the first quarter of 2008, China imported 8.48 million tons of crude oil from Angola, a year-over-year growth of 55.1%, while the purchase from Saudi Arabia was 8.18 million tons, with a daily average of 0.68 million barrels. In the past 6 years, Saudi Arabia has been the leading provider of crude oil to China. In 2007, Saudi’s oil export was 26.33 million tons, or 0.528 million barrels. Although China is the second largest energy consumers around the world, it still heavily relies on coal as the main energy source. The crude oil consists 20% of the country’s total energy needs.

Source: Oriental Morning Post, April 23, 2008
http://epaper.dfdaily.com/dfzb/html/2008-04/23/content_52909.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

China Becomes Sixth Largest Direct Investor of Mozambique

A research center in Mozambique claimed that China, with a direct investment of 60 million U.S. dollars in 2007, is becoming the country’s sixth largest investor. According to the statistics of the Center for Promotion of Investments of Mozambique, China has become Asia’s single largest investor to this country. Currently, China has 69 major investment projects in agriculture and forestry sector. China is also the only country that established a Center for Promotion of Investment. In 2003, China ranked the ninth with an investment of 10 million U.S. dollars. The Center also states that among the 36 countries investing in Mozambique, the top five countries are USA (more than 5 billion U.S. dollars), Swaziland (1710 million U.S. dollars), Mauritius (1510 million U.S. dollars), UK (9.1 million U.S. dollars), and South Africa (7.9 million U.S. dollars).

Source: Xinhua, April 21, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-04/21/content_8019482.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

China Police Adopts 3G Wireless Video Surveillance Technology

With the spread of 3G technology, China’s wireless video surveillance technology is migrating to a new Internet communication standard from traditional CDMA technology. At the China Police Expo 2008 in Beijing, various new surveillance products were on display. According to a Xinhua news report, the boom of this industry was because of the government’s strategy of creating a “harmonious society” and the Olympics Security Operations. Exhibitors at the Expo included companies based in China, Italy, U.K., Germany, Singapore, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Czech, New Zealand, U.S., Russia, and France.

Source: Xinhua, April 17, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-04/17/content_7992541.htm

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

CCP to Hire 100,000 College Graduates as Village Cadres

The Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee (CCCCP) plans to employ 20,000 new college graduates each year for five years from 2008, working as cadres at the village level within the political hierarchy. According to The People’s Daily, the purpose is to “strengthen the construction of grass-root organizations, cultivate educated leaders for building socialistic new villages, and build up reserves for Party and government cadres.” In principle, the candidates should be CCP members or excellent Communist Youth League (CYL) cadres. The starting positions include Assistant to Village Party Secretary, Assistant to Director of Village Committee, or Village CYL Secretary.

Source: People’s Daily, April 16, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2008-04/17/content_7993652.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics