Shanghai pension scandal

The Shanghai pension scandal was a corruption case in Shanghai, China.

Ultimately, former Shanghai party chief Chen Liangyu was implicated in the scandal and removed from office. Other high-ranking officials were also implicated such as Zhu Junyi, Qin Yu, Yu Zhifei, and Chen Chaoxian. Vice-Premier Huang Ju and his wife Yu Huiwen were also believed to be involved, but were never officially exposed as being part of the scandal.

Allegations

Shanghai's social security fund manages 10 billion yuan in assets. The allegations were that about a third of public funds was diverted into real estate and road investment projects.[1]

Dismissals

Chen Liangyu, the Shanghai Party Chief and Politburo member was sacked from the party in 2006, becoming the most senior party member to be dismissed in a decade.[2] He was accused of illicitly investing billions of yuan of pension fund money in real estate, aiding illegal businesses, shielding corrupt colleagues, and abusing his position to benefit family members.[3] On April 11, 2008, Chen, 61, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for accepting $340,000 in bribes and abusing power, specifically, for stock manipulation, financial fraud and his role in the city pension fund scandal, at the No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court, Tianjin.[4]

Also sacked and expelled from the Communist Party were:

All those sacked will face criminal charges.[1]

Political context

Chen was seen as a senior member of the Shanghai clique who worked with former CPC General secretary, President Jiang Zemin and were seen as rivals to current CPC General secretary, President Hu Jintao. The dismissals were seen as strengthening the authority of Hu within the party and weakening the Jiang loyalists.[3]

Popular culture

A thinly veiled reference to this scandal is a major plot element of the Chinese TV drama Dwelling Narrowness.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Four officials on graft charges, News 24, 2007-05-21
  2. ↑ China's F1 track chief dismissed, BBC, 2007-05-21
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Top Shanghai Leader Removed From Office, ABC News, 2006-09-25
  4. ↑ nytimes.com, Former Party Boss in China Gets 18 Years
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, May 04, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.