ebookland Chapter 386 When it comes to cracking down on the corrupt officials in Handong, I, Luo Shanhe, will
Chapter 386 When it comes to cracking down on the corrupt officials in Handong, I, Luo Shanhe, will
Yanjing.
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervision Commission.
Luo Shanhe sat at his desk, his expression serious and unsmiling.
Across from him, Lu Shengye was reviewing documents with a serious expression.
A cup of hot tea went from steaming to simmering without rising any more heat.
Luo Shanhe did not make a sound to disturb them.
He's waited for months, so why should he care about a moment?
Huo Siteng holds a high position and wields significant influence.
He was not only the top official in Jingzhou, the capital of Handong Province, but also the head of the Handong Provincial Party Committee.
As the Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission of Handong Province, Luo Shanhe has the authority to supervise Luo Shanhe.
However, they did not have the authority to remove a centrally-managed cadre like Huo Siteng without approval.
If you're going to make a move, you must strike decisively and kill the target.
In order to thoroughly investigate and verify the facts and obtain conclusive evidence of the crime.
Since receiving an anonymous tip about Huo Siteng last year, Luo Shanhe has been conducting a long and secret investigation.
In an effort to lull Huo Siteng into a false sense of security and lower his guard, Luo Shanhe also employed some other methods.
For example, they could start by downplaying the seriousness of the matter, making Huo Siteng mistakenly believe that the issue of being reported was not serious, so he would not report to the organization that he had gone to the Haomen Casino and would only need to submit a written self-criticism.
Then Huo Siteng served as the leader of the Jingzhou Deepening Reform Group. His radical reform plan was also approved by Luo Shanhe at the provincial party committee meeting, which made him think that progress was possible and that he would no longer be investigated.
Finally, during these past few months, Huo Siteng was allowed to dress impeccably during the day, boldly pushing forward reforms, but at night he turned into a beast, indulging in singing, dancing, and a life of debauchery, causing his group to completely sink into power and pleasure.
Until now.
The evidence is irrefutable and irrefutable.
After a discussion by a five-person group from the Handong Provincial Party Committee, Luo Shanhe personally went to the General Administration of Discipline Inspection and Supervision to report to Lu Shengye on the crimes committed by Huo Siteng and others.
After a long while, Lu Shengye finished reading all the materials.
After picking up the USB drive and glancing at it, I didn't plug it into the computer to check the various image files stored on it.
Because the materials already contain many color-printed photos and video screenshots, which are already very clear.
"I'll have a cigarette, you don't mind, do you?"
"No problem, please have a smoke."
Lu Shengye smiled slightly, then lit a cigarette and started smoking.
He frowned, stared at the thick book of criminal evidence on the table, and remained silent for a long while.
"Having worked in discipline inspection for most of my life, this is the first time I've ever seen a case involving such a large sum of money and such egregious corruption."
Luo Shanhe quickly explained, "There may be two reasons for this."
"First, Handong itself is a major economic province, and it is richer than other provinces."
"Secondly, in the past two years, Handong has vigorously developed a high-quality economy, and various investments and constructions have been unprecedented in scale."
"The combination of these two factors leads to greater opportunities for rent-seeking and a larger amount of money involved in favoritism and corruption."
Lu Shengye chuckled.
"Your Handong Province is indeed both rich and daring."
"Not to mention the various upgrades and renovations at the provincial level, such as roads, electricity, shipping, and communications, as well as new construction projects such as high-speed rail, airports, and ports."
"In Jingzhou City, the provincial capital alone, there are hundreds of projects of all sizes, including urban village renovation, utility tunnel construction, road upgrades, subway construction, and public services, with an investment of hundreds of billions of yuan."
"With so many construction projects and so much investment, Jingzhou City is probably equivalent to a province in central and western China. It's no wonder that such large-scale construction has bred such a terrifying corruption scandal!"
Luo Shanhe smiled and nodded, unable to deny it.
To achieve a high-quality economy, it's not enough to simply optimize the business environment.
Transportation, electricity, communications, healthcare, education...
The various infrastructure facilities must also be top-notch.
To meet the growing demand for public transportation and to avoid severe congestion in the city after the population exceeds ten million, Gyeongju has been particularly forward-thinking in the planning and construction of its urban rail system.
The plan includes 14 rail lines, including 10 subway lines and 4 light rail lines, with a total length of 458 kilometers, including as many as 4 subway lines crossing the river.
Not only is the overall network density greater than that of cities like Yanjing and Tianhai, but the simultaneous construction of five subway lines to form a radial "米" (rice) shape and a ring around the city also sets a new record for subway construction in China.
In addition, with the widening of various urban roads, the construction of integrated utility tunnels, and the construction of multiple expressways and ring roads, the vast city of Jingzhou is practically a huge construction site, with construction fences visible almost everywhere.
For companies involved in engineering design, construction, construction machinery, engineering supervision, landscaping, building materials, and labor intermediaries, such a large number of engineering projects is naturally a wealth-generating opportunity.
Even ordinary office workers who work for related companies and migrant workers who work on various construction sites naturally benefit from it.
of course.
The large number of engineering projects naturally means that there is a lot of potential for power-money transactions in project approval, competitive bidding, fund allocation, and completion acceptance.
Against this backdrop, those who wield real power but lack resolve are naturally susceptible to being lured and corrupted.
Even if some people are not interested in money, they will still be tempted to collude and compromise their principles in order to advance faster and gain more power.
Otherwise, if one is honest and upright, incorruptible, unwilling to flatter superiors or form cliques, and cannot be considered "one of our own" on the same boat, it will be difficult to be appreciated and given important responsibilities.
Once they become "one of us," they will naturally favor their own people in their conduct and actions, and they will no longer care about the country and the people.
Besides indulging in eating, drinking, and pleasure, these groups also engage in unwarranted policy discussions, alienation, and a lack of organization and discipline. They completely disregard the laws of scientific development, ignore the opinions of the people, blindly launch projects, are ambitious and arbitrary, and substitute words for law while using power to suppress the law...
The end result was that Huo Siteng formed a clique and used his power and influence to help Kong Zhiyong and others in real estate development, project contracting, and job promotion.
In return, Kong Zhiyong and his associates not only arranged for Huo Siteng and his group to eat, drink, and have fun in secluded high-end private clubs, but also bribed them with large quantities of famous cigarettes and liquors, gold and silver antiques, and huge sums of cash.
"Mountains and rivers!"
"Ok?"
Lu Shengye leaned forward and flicked away the cigarette ash.
"Huo Siteng doesn't seem to be a native of Handong, does he?"
"No, he worked in Sichuan for many years before Zhong Zhengguo transferred him to Jingzhou."
“Zhong Zhengguo? Ha, that’s not surprising, not surprising at all.”
Lu Shengye smiled slightly.
He was well aware of the conflict between Zhong Zhengguo and Zhao Lichun.
It's estimated that Zhong Zhengguo transferred Huo Siteng to Jingzhou as a backup plan for Liang Qunfeng.
If Liang Qunfeng, whom Zhong Zhengguo recommended, does not succeed him as the top leader of Handong, then Huo Siteng will also be a thorn in his side in Handong.
But Zhong Zhengguo obviously didn't expect that he himself would become corrupt and degenerate, and that Huo Siteng, whom he promoted, and his father had already turned to evil back in Xirong.
Upon arriving in Jingzhou, a city with a more prosperous and developed economy, the father and son thrived. On the surface, they were selfless and conscientious public officials, but in private, they indulged in extravagance and amassed great wealth.
During the storm of reforming grassroots work style in Handong, his son, who was used to being arrogant and domineering, ended up in jail after running into trouble. However, Huo Siteng did not restrain himself. Instead, he became even more outrageous and completely let himself go.
“Zhong Zhengguo has been engaged in political and legal work for so many years. He has led anti-corruption campaigns in multiple fields such as water conservancy and transportation, and promoted the reform of state-owned enterprises, achieving remarkable results. However, not only did he fail to exercise self-discipline, but Huo Siteng, whom he promoted, also became a corrupt leader.”
"And this Huo Siteng had already started being corrupt back in Xirong, so why did Zhong Zhengguo promote him despite his illness and transfer him to Jingzhou?"
Luo Shanhe frowned and asked, "Are you suspecting that Zhong Zhengguo has also long been corrupt and degenerate?"
Lu Shengye smacked his lips.
"Zhong Zhengguo's case has already been concluded, so it's hard to say what happened before!"
"However, some officials nowadays, while in office, do not embezzle or take bribes, but openly engage in the transfer of benefits."
"I just wait until I retire, thinking that once I retire, I'll be settled and others will return the benefits with interest, and there won't be any problems."
"Not long ago, we solved a case where a man was frantically selling land and approving projects before retirement, but he and his immediate family members were all clean and had no problems."
"Shortly after retiring, he started a company, and business quickly boomed. He signed many big deals, and his family bought a house and a car. They had tens of millions in savings. When we sent him a letter to question him, he argued that his wealth was from legitimate business!"
Luo Shanhe remained silent.
Throughout history, driven by greed and selfishness, countless people have continued to engage in corruption, even at the cost of public execution and torture, devising all sorts of bizarre ways to abuse their power for personal gain.
Therefore, the new method of covert corruption described by Lu Shengye is not actually that novel; it simply postpones the time for cashing out power.
In contrast, he felt that it was more difficult to investigate those who were diligent and honest in the country, but whose spouses and children were living a life of luxury abroad.
No one is monitoring their relatives abroad, nor do they know what kind of life they lead. Furthermore, there is no transnational regulatory or law enforcement power, so it is difficult to know whether unscrupulous businessmen are transferring profits across borders for them.
Before being transferred to Jingzhou, Luo Shanhe had already uncovered a corrupt official in the international metropolis of Tianhai who was extremely well disguised.
That guy seemed very upright, with no issues regarding his personal life or family assets, and his children's overseas studies were all legal and compliant.
After his children finished their studies abroad, they worked, bought houses, and settled down overseas. It seems that everything was due to their own efforts, and there were no corruption issues involved.
In the end, his true colors were revealed because the unscrupulous merchant he had been supporting for a long time offended someone, and others secretly gathered evidence to report them.
Only then did they discover that his integrity and incorruptibility were all an act. His children were admitted to prestigious foreign universities through donations from unscrupulous businessmen, and they also obtained high-paying jobs and luxury villas through the transfer of benefits from these unscrupulous businessmen.
In Luo Shanhe's view, this corrupt pattern of "officials playing the good guy inside while their families enjoy themselves outside" is the most difficult to investigate.
As for cashing out after retirement or profiting from relatives and friends... it's easy as long as you're in China, because even if regulations fail, wealth is hard to hide and will eventually be exposed.
Luo Shanhe is now in a hurry to report to Lu Shengye in person because he wants to take action against Huo Siteng, Feng Shengcai, Kong Zhiyong and others as soon as possible to prevent them from fleeing overseas after learning the news.
As the cigarette slowly burned out, Lu Shengye stubbed it out and put the documents and USB drive back into the file folder.
"Since your five-person group of the Handong Provincial Committee has already discussed this thoroughly, and the facts of Huo Siteng and others' crimes are clear and the evidence is conclusive, then let's take action!"
Luo Shanhe hurriedly got up.
"Yes, Secretary Lu!"
"Don't get agitated, sit down!"
Lu Shengye raised his hand and made a two-fold gesture of pressing down.
"Handong is at a critical stage of high-quality economic development, and the work of deepening reform is still ongoing."
"Given this background, we must take all factors into consideration when investigating and prosecuting corruption cases involving a large number of people and huge sums of money."