这个处长收了29套房 全登记 在母亲名下 还说是经商所得
This Section Chief Took 29 Housing Units
All Were Registered in His Mother’s Name
He Said, Everything was Earned in Business Dealings
August 14, 2009
Oriental Morning Post, Page A2-3
http://epaper.dfdaily.com/dfzb/html/2009-08/14/content_152222.htm
[Mr. Tao -- reference is the name of the person under investigation;
Mr. Tan -- an invented reference to tanwu, the Chinese word for
embezzlement.]
Investigators accuse Tao Jianguo of using the advantage of his position from 1999 to 2008 to seek benefits for others, in total taking bribes of 1.06 million yuan and 29 units of property worth 13.79 million yuan from real estate developers. In court, Tao Jianguo admitted, he “took the stated money,” but he argued that all permits went through proper legal auditing, and the money he received was from business dealings.
OMP Reporters, Gu Wenjian and Jia Shuangshuang
Interns, Wang Liangchen and Xu Shaoming
The investigation into Section Chief Tao Jianguo, head of the planning and construction section of the Shanghai Waigaoqiao bonded area management committee, for taking bribes worth over 14.85 million yuan (including 29 units of housing) by the Pudong New Area people’s protectorate has come to an end. Yesterday, there was a hearing on the case at the No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court of the Municipality. In court, Tao Jianguo did not admit to “being bribed”, and instead alleged that the source of the bribery funds was “earnings from business dealings”. As for his behavior at his post before the case, Tao Jianguo emphasized that he “audited according to the law”, and that he “did not use his post to conduct business”. It is reported that the hearing will continue for another two days before a date is set for announcing the decision.
Accepted over 14.86 million yuan
Yesterday 9:45 am, No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court of the Shanghai Municipality
Tao Jianguo is wearing glasses while in the defendant’s dock, his expression is haggard.
From 1999 to 2008, Tao Jianguo successively held the positions of assistant to the section chief and vice-section chief, city and town construction management section (village and town planning section) of the Shanghai Pudong New Area bureau of rural development, and of responsible party and vice-section chief, planning construction and environmental management section of the Waigaiqiao functional regions management committee, Shanghai Pudong New Area. However, Tao Jianguo used the advantages of his post to seek benefits from others in his work as the examiner and approver of land construction planning certificates and construction engineering planning certificates in construction and engineering projects undertaken in his area of jurisdiction.
It is understood that Tao Jianguo accepted total bribes of 1.06 million yuan from a company representative surnamed. Hong of Shanghai Shen’gang Real Estate Company, Limited and Shanghai Xingdu Real Estate Development Company, Limited, as well as other companies’ representatives surnamed Xu, Lu, and Zhang. He also accepted 29 units of property as a bribe from a person surnamed Hong, with a value of over 13.79 million yuan. Because the bribery amount from people including the one surnamed Hong is large, this has been called “the biggest suspected bribery case in Shanghai for 2008” by investigators.
Property registered under mother’s name
In 4 actual instances of accepting bribes, the biggest amount came from a person surnamed Hong for 690,000 yuan and 29 units of property.
The indictment reads that from 2000 to 2008, Shanghai Shen’gang Real Estate Company, Limited and Shanghai Xingdu Real Estate Development Company, Limited developed projects including Shuguang Gardens, Shuguang North Gardens, and Shuguang East Gardens, as well as the Chuansha Town Wangqiao market for exchange of production materials and the Heqing Town petty commodity market. After receiving multiple bribes from a person surnamed Hong, Tao Jianguo provided assistance in the examination and approval of the Planning Permits for Land for Construction Use and of the Planning Permits for Construction Projects.
During the hearing Tao Jianguo revealed that among the 29 units of property there are townhouses, storefronts, and apartments. Besides the townhouse that is used as a residence, most of the property is rented out. All 29 units of property are registered under the name of Tao Jianguo’s mother. Tao Jianguo explained this by saying that, after 2003, because civil servants were not allowed to start companies or engage in related business activity, and because he worried about breaking principles, he transferred the titles to his mother’s name. “My mother didn’t know there was so much property under her name,” Tao Jianguo said.
On August 27, 2008, Tao Jianguo was accused of double designation by departments of the Commission for Inspecting Discipline. On September 3, Tao Jianguo was detained on the suspicion of accepting bribes by the Pudong prosecutor’s office, and he was arrested on the 12th of that month.
The “proceeds from business dealings” argument
Yesterday during the hearing, Tao Jianguo “objected” to most of the accusations.
Tao Jianguo said that he had participated all along with Shanghai Shen’gang Real Estate Company, Limited and Shanghai Xingdu Real Estate Development Company, Limited in business. The 690,000 yuan from someone surnamed Hong and the 29 units of housing were all “proceedings from business dealings”.
In explaining his participation in the business activities of the two above companies, Tao Jianguo said that although he did not have a position in either of the two companies, he did participate in the operations of the board of directors, and engaged in “establishing of company projects” and “establishing of land and property sales companies”, as well as the work of founding and disbanding companies. In addition, Tao Jianguo described in his own words how he adopted a method of “real estate mortgage” and infused financing into Xingdu Company that had yet to be founded.
Tao Jianguo argues that of the 690,000 yuan that the person surnamed Hong gave him, 490,000 yuan was severance pay from Shen’gang Company, and the other 100,000 yuan was a subsidy from the yearly meeting of the board of directors. As for the 29 units of property under suspicion, they were dividends of 5 shareholders resulting from business operations, and are the result of investment. “The townhouse is one unit of the shareholder’s portfolio, and the geographic positions are all in one place,” Tao Jianguo said. “Many of my family have participated in the finance and sales company operations of Shen’gang Company.”
Tao Jianguo thinks that while planning permits for land for construction use and for construction projects are under his jurisdiction, he all projects were examined and approved according to the law and he did not use “the advantage of his post”, and his income is from “proceedings from business dealings”.
He said that in course of the examination and approval, from the submission of application materials to the auditing, and then to the approval and issue of permits, the entire process takes 10 working days. He was only responsible for providing opinions on the auditing and had no relationship with real estate developers.
Investigators think that Tao Jianguo, as an employee of the state, used the advantages of his post to gain benefits for others and received illegal financial gains of over 14.85 million yuan, a violation of the law.
His lawyer argues:
There is no reason for him to take bribes.
According to the indictment, a person surnamed Hong is the biggest briber in the bribery case against Tao Jianguo. It is understood that the two met in 1997. Tao Jianguo argues that he did not accept bribes, and instead he was a shareholder of two real estate companies and the money was the legal outcome of business dealings. Because state civil servants and their immediate families cannot be shareholders in companies, they use the names of their relatives to invest. But the person surnamed Hong denied the above facts when testifying to the authorities. He said that he doesn’t know “Tao Jianguo’s relatives”.
Tao Jianguo’s lawyer thinks that Tao Jianguo is an invisible shareholder, and that he used his relatives’ names to hold shares in the companies. As for the “generosity” of the person surnamed Hong, the defendant’s lawyer said that Tao Jianguo is only one of many section-level officials responsible for the chain of examination and approval of planned real estate projects. His grade is not high. Hence, he lacks sufficient decision-making authority. So he has no reason to “wantonly accept bribes”.
The defendant’s lawyer thinks that, while Tao Jianguo had a large amount of property, it was not “bribery”, and in fact this precisely corroborates that Tao Jianguo participated in the business operations of the companies. And for this reason, he was entitled to receive property and cash. But according to the testimony of the person surnamed Hong, Tao Jianguo not only accepted bribes, he actively “sought bribes”.
Pudong Commission for Inspecting Discipline:
Because of the property the case was brought
Yesterday, a reporter sent a telegram to the construction planning and environmental management section of the Waigaoqiao Functional Regions Management Committee. A worker at this section said they were “not clear” about this issue. Nor did they leak any details about related particulars.
A worker in the Pudong New Area Commission for Inspecting Discipline said that the Tao Jianguo case began because of a “property” problem, and the “relationship” with Shanghai Shen’gang Real Estate Company, Limited and Shanghai Xingdu Real Estate Development Company, Limited. But after the investigation, the Commission for Inspecting Discipline thinks that Tao Jianguo was not a “shareholder” of either of the companies.
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