Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, February 21st: Anti-corruption — — Seriously investigate and punish the abuse of power for housing.
Xinhua News Agency "Xinhua Viewpoint" reporter
The Central Leading Group for Inspection Work recently put forward that "there are problems such as leading cadres using power to build houses" in some places. The reporter of "Xinhua Viewpoint" combed and found that in recent years, in the feedback opinions of the Central Leading Group for Inspection Work on a number of inspected objects, the expression of leading cadres "using power to build houses" appeared many times.
The problem of abusing power for housing cannot be ignored.
Since 2015, the Central Leading Group for Inspection Work has mentioned the issue of "exploiting power for housing" in the process of inspecting some places and units.
The feedback from the Central Leading Group for Inspection Work pointed out that there are leaders of Aerospace Science and Technology Group who buy "commercial houses" developed by subordinate enterprises at low prices or build over-standard houses; Some leaders of China Post illegally make profits in housing and salary distribution; There is also a situation in which leading cadres occupy more housing.
Among the corruption cases investigated and dealt with in recent years, some leading cadres have serious problems related to housing corruption. Wang Tianchao, the former president of the First People’s Hospital of Yunnan Province, known as the "Double Hundred Dean", took advantage of his position from 2004 to mid-2014 to accept 100 properties with a total value of more than 80 million yuan. Ma Chaoqun, general manager of Beidaihe Water Supply Corporation in Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province, found 120 million yuan in cash at home when he was investigated, and he also owned 68 properties.
Lv Xiwen, the former deputy secretary of Beijing Municipal Committee, is a typical example of the problem of leading cadres’ "abusing power for housing". CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection disclosed that during his tenure as the leader of Xicheng District and Beijing, Lv Xiwen gave help and support to the financial street group, a state-owned enterprise in the jurisdiction. After buying a house for himself at a low price from a high-end residential area developed by the financial street development group, he successively bought five houses for his family and relatives, and the difference between the purchase price and the market price was tens of millions of yuan.
On February 20th, Jilin Intermediate People’s Court publicly pronounced that Lv Xiwen was sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment and fined RMB 2 million for accepting bribes. Confiscate the property seized from bribery and turn it over to the state treasury.
Three ways to show officials’ corruption in seeking housing
Liu Shanying, an associate researcher at the Institute of Political Science of China Academy of Social Sciences, said that in recent years, housing prices in some large and medium-sized cities have been rising steadily, and the unhealthy trend of "abusing power for housing" related to housing has also emerged. From the illegal occupation and distribution during the welfare housing distribution period in the past to the use of power to accept real estate transactions, the number of real estate accepted by some officials is "eye-catching".
— — Directly accept real estate. Last year, the Intermediate People’s Court of the 13th Division of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps tried the bribery case of Song Zhiguo, the former party secretary of Shihezi City. Song Zhiguo accepted the entrustment of Wang, the general manager of a subordinate state-owned real estate development enterprise, to provide support for the company’s operation and development, and to mobilize the work for Wang’s younger brother. In return, Song Zhiguo has received a set of houses and four shops from Wang.
Recently, the Intermediate People’s Court of wuzhong, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region found out in the trial of Xia Xiyun, a former member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee of Yinchuan City, that in August 2010, Xia Xiyun wanted to buy a house for her parents in Yinchuan. In order to thank Xia Xiyun for his support for many years, Su bought a suite in Xingqingfu Courtyard of Yinchuan City and gave it to Xia Xiyun after renovation, and Xia Xiyun resold the house to others for more than 900,000 yuan.
— — Illegal allocation of housing. According to the report of Tianjin Commission for Discipline Inspection in November 2016, Meng Xiaoguang, deputy director of the Comprehensive Law Enforcement Bureau of Hedong District, illegally purchased three sets of affordable housing for himself and his relatives to live in during his tenure as the director of the Office of District Housing Management Bureau. CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection informed that Yang Xiaocheng, the former deputy director of the Life Service Center of the Beijing Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection, concealed the fact that he had purchased affordable housing and illegally purchased a set of affordable housing in the name of people without housing.
— — Buy a house at a low price. Some leading cadres believe that buying a house at a low price is only a "small section", not a big problem, but behind the privilege, it is also a corruption crime. In the bribery case of Song Jianguo, the former director of Beijing Traffic Management Bureau, Song Jianguo handled several pairs of "Jing A" plates for Zhai Moumou, the legal representative of Beijing Maqiao Shenlong Real Estate Development Co., Ltd., so Song Jianguo bought two houses developed by Zhai Moumou for his mistress at a price of 940,000 yuan, which was obviously lower than the market price.
Zhuang Deshui, deputy director of the Research Center for the Construction of a Clean Government in Peking University, said that in 2007, the judicial interpretation issued by the "two highs" stipulated that any state functionary who took advantage of his position to seek benefits for the trustee and bought a house from the trustee at a price significantly lower than the market price would be treated as accepting bribes.
Strictly implement the spot check system for reporting personal matters of leading cadres.
Why do some fallen cadres prefer real estate? Experts pointed out that in the past, the real estate registration system was not connected to the internet, and there were loopholes in the implementation of the system of reporting and spot checks on personal matters of leading cadres. The price of real estate soared year by year, and the "power-seeking house" such as buying a house at a low price discount was more hidden than directly accepting money and things. Many factors caused corrupt officials to often choose real estate when accepting bribes.
Experts suggest that in view of the phenomenon of leading cadres’ "abusing power for housing", we should speed up the real estate registration system and strictly implement the spot check system for leading cadres’ personal affairs reports. In a timely manner, the problem of leading cadres occupying more housing and "abusing power for housing" will be rectified in a special way, and illegally occupied and occupied housing will be vacated within a time limit, and serious investigation will be made for overdue retirement and poor supervision.
At present, some units and localities have carried out clean-up and rectification work on illegal occupation of public houses. CDB introduced in the patrol and rectification briefing that regarding the suspected interest exchange problem of using the authority to buy a house from a loan unit at a low price, in accordance with the principle of marketization, it was rectified by means of paying the premium house price. With regard to some leaders who have occupied revolving houses for a long time, some have allocated houses in many places, and some have not truthfully declared their personal houses, thoroughly find out the base number of public houses and list them; Conscientiously do a good job in the clean-up and recycling of the houses that occupy more or no reason.
The reporter learned that in some places, through the comparison of big data platforms, the problem of "using power to purchase affordable housing and receive low-rent housing subsidies" was effectively discovered and investigated.
After comparing the data provided by the Commission for Discipline Inspection of Huangshi City, Hubei Province to the urban construction department, it was found that Feng Shengyi, secretary of the Party branch of Wulidi Community in Jinhu Sub-district Office of daye city, had an abnormal situation that his wife bought affordable housing and his two daughters enjoyed housing rental subsidies for low-income families. The discipline inspection department found that Feng Shengyi used his position to make false application materials for his wife, defrauding the qualification of applying for affordable housing and acquiring a set of affordable housing; Forged the housing conditions of two daughters and other materials, illegally applied for housing rental subsidies for urban low-income families, and received a total of more than 19,000 yuan.
Qiao Xinsheng, a professor at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, said that it is still necessary to increase the reporting and investigation of the hidden phenomenon of "abusing power for housing" such as using relatives to hold houses. (Reporter Wu Mengda, Li Jinfeng, Liu Shuo, Chen Shangying)
