China’s Corruption Scandal: How 22 Money Boxes Brought Down Public Security Officials
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China’s corruption is arguably unmatched worldwide. Countless cases defy imagination. Watching the four-part documentary series titled “Continued Efforts, Deepening Progress,” jointly produced by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervision Commission (CCDI·NSC) and the state-owned China Central Television (CCTV), which aired its first episode on the 6th, one can truly grasp the scale of the problem. A case in point is when a car couldn’t move because it was overloaded with 22 boxes filled with bribery money.
According to the documentary, Li Wenxi, Xue Heng, and Wang Dawei, three former directors of the Liaoning Provincial Public Security Department, wielded unchecked power for over two decades. They held significant positions of power and could have maintained their honor if they hadn’t succumbed to corruption. However, they chose not to.
During their tenure, they allegedly amassed bribes amounting to an estimated 1.2 billion yuan (approximately $170 million). Li, who served from 2002 for nine years, received 541 million yuan (approx. $76 million). Most of the bribes came from Liu Zhiting, the owner of an iron ore mining company in Liaoning, and were used to quash investigations into illegal mining.
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As anticipated, Liu managed to avoid criminal penalties. True to his word, Li promptly acquired a 30% stake in the company. Subsequently, he appointed his son-in-law as a figurehead, essentially designating him as the company’s owner. Furthermore, at Xue Heng’s request, he assisted Bai Yuchen, a businessman facing extortion charges, in evading criminal prosecution.
Bai, who easily avoided criminal punishment, immediately handed over tens of millions of yuan to Xue as a gratuity. Xue, who understood the symbiotic relationship between power and capital, soon followed in Li’s footsteps and became the head of the Provincial Public Security Department. He then got involved in case quashing, business operations, and subcontracting, easily amassing 135 million yuan (approx. $19 million).
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Wang Dawei, who assumed the role after Xue, proved to be even more ruthless when it came to bribery and corruption. Following his stint as the deputy head of the Heilongjiang Public Security Bureau, he ascended to the position of head of the Liaoning Provincial Public Security Department in 2013. He gained a reputation as a prominent figure in the security sector of the northeastern region. Staying true to his notoriety, he amassed a staggering 555 million yuan during his nine-year tenure.
Approximately half of the bribes he received, leading up to his downfall in March 2022, originated from Liu Zhiting, the proprietor of Zhongwang Group, an aluminum product manufacturing company located in Liaoning. As depicted in the documentary, Liu delivered the cash in a total of 22 boxes to Wang. The peculiar issue arose when Wang’s minivan struggled to ascend the inclined underground parking lot due to the sheer weight of the boxes. It was indeed an astonishing turn of events.
Li Wenshi, Xue Heng, and Wang Dawei, the “corrupt public security trio” of Liaoning, were exposed by the high-intensity inspections of the CCDI·NSC for corruption eradication and fell from grace one after another from 2021 to 2022. Li, the most senior among them, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve by the Shandong Intermediate Court in January last year, which was later commuted to life imprisonment.
Xue was also sentenced to 17 years at the first trial in December last year. Wang Dawei, who was indicted for bribery and other charges in October last year after being investigated by the CCDI·NSC in March 2022, is awaiting the court’s verdict. He is almost certain to receive a heavy sentence, similar to Li.
By. Soon Do Hong
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