On the afternoon of November 26th, Jiahe County Court (Hunan Province) made a first-instance judgment on Wen Yang, the former county party secretary of Yongxing County, for accepting and offering bribes. On the same day, after hearing the 35-page verdict read by the presiding judge, Wen Yang was already somewhat callous. Whether to file an appeal or not, Wen Yang said that he would make a decision after careful consideration.
According to Chenzhou Daily, on the afternoon of November 26th, Jiahe County Court made a first-instance judgment on Wen Yang, the former county party secretary of Yongxing County, for accepting bribes, and sentenced him to 13 years in prison and deprived of political rights for 2 years. He was sentenced to 6 months in prison for bribery. Decided to execute fixed-term imprisonment of 13 years and deprivation of political rights for 2 years. Recover the defendant Wen Yang’s bribe-taking money of 1,912,395 yuan and turn it over to the state treasury.
The 35-page verdict records the fact that Wen Yang used his power to "sell officials" and accepted 47 bribes from 47 units and individuals during his tenure as director of Chenzhou Municipal Transportation Bureau and secretary of Yongxing County Party Committee. The number of bribers and the number of bribes are amazing!
The county party secretary "double regulations" fell
Wen Yang, a 49-year-old native of Yizhang County, holds a postgraduate degree. He has successively served as the deputy magistrate of Yizhang County, the director of Chenzhou Municipal Transportation Bureau, the secretary of Yongxing County Party Committee and the director of Chenzhou Economic Development Zone Management Committee. In 2000, Wen Yang became the traffic director of Chenzhou, and became one of the few young cadres at the "Zhengzhi" level in Chenzhou. During this period, he gave the impression that his work was enterprising, his subordinates were convinced, his superiors were satisfied and he had a bright future. In 2004, 45-year-old Wen Yang was transferred to Yongxing County Party Committee Secretary.
But after all, the young "in" level cadre didn’t control himself. On August 30, 2007, criminal detention was carried out by the branch directly under the Municipal Public Security Bureau, as decided by Chenzhou Procuratorate. On September 13 of the same year, he was arrested.
Wen Yang defended himself in court, saying: During the Spring Festival and during his study abroad, some responsible persons of township and county-level organs and units gave him money, but most of them didn’t ask for anything, only said that they were paying New Year greetings and visiting, with the aim of contacting his feelings so as to get attention and care. This is a courtesy, not a bribe. At the trial, the court found that after accepting these red envelopes, Wen Yang took care of the briber in reusing and promoting cadres, and greeted the relevant departments in business, all of which met the constitutive requirements of the crime of accepting bribes.
"Accepting’ festival ceremony’ is a bribe? The legal profession is still controversial. However, a county-level leading cadre (who has served as the director of the Municipal Transportation Bureau and the secretary of the county party Committee) has actually received a gift of more than 1.91 million yuan in five years, which obviously exceeds the general standard of human relations. It is a relatively hidden behavior of’ replacing bribes with gifts’. " An associate professor of law in the Social Science Department of Xiangnan University, who asked not to be named, said.
In the past five years, the "seven officials" and "festivals" have reached nearly two million.
In the indictment of the procuratorate, the reporter found that Wen Yang not only made money by adjusting cadres, contracting projects, coordinating work, etc., but the gift money on holidays became a good opportunity for Wen Yang to take bribes.
According to the indictment of the prosecution, Wen Yang transferred Yongxing County to be the secretary of the county party committee in 2004. In the Mid-Autumn Festival of that year, he began to accept gifts from his subordinates, including not only the second-in-command of some towns and villages in the county, but also the leaders of various units directly under the county, such as the relevant commissions and offices of the county. The reason of the giver is basically "to get Wen Yang’s concern and support for his work and personal progress". Gifts range from 4,000 yuan to tens of thousands of yuan.
Since 2004, when he became the secretary of the county party Committee in Yongxing, some cadres have taken action every Spring Festival. Some give money as a "long-term investment" in order to thank Wen Yang for promoting himself in the major adjustment of cadres, in order to seek better official positions; Others "cram for Buddha’s feet" temporarily, giving money while making demands. The "official seekers" hardly avoid people’s eyes and ears. Many township leaders and leaders of county-level organs took public funds together and went to the door to pay bribes. And Wen Yang is always reckless in the face of these "tributes" from subordinates who claim to be "loyal" to himself.
Being hospitalized due to illness, studying in the Party School and going out for a meeting and visiting are also good opportunities for Wen Yang to receive gifts. It is understood that during his tenure as a secretary in Yongxing County, Wen Yang received US$ 9,000 from Li, the former director of the Finance Bureau of Yongxing County, in 2005, while going abroad for inspection.
It is said that behind every successful man, there is a wife. Behind Wen Yang, there is also a woman who is greedy for her wife.
Some cadres in Yongxing County went to Yang Wengu to send money. If they didn’t meet Wen Yang, they gave the money to his wife, Bai Guifang. Everyone knows that as long as the "pillow breeze" blows, things can be done eighty percent.
There is a township cadre who spends the most money on buying officials, totaling 160 thousand yuan. In the Spring Festival of 2005, in order to be the secretary of the township party committee in the township institutional reform of that year, this township cadre came to Yang Wenjia to find Wen Yang’s wife, Bai Guifang, and presented her with a "New Year’s greeting gold" of 140,000 yuan, hoping that she would put in a good word and support her in front of Secretary Yang. According to the investigation, from 2005 to 2006, the township cadres sent RMB 164,000 to Yang’s wife, Bai Guifang, three times. After Bai Guifang’s "pillow talk", the township cadres also successfully served as the secretary of the township party committee.
Some township cadres are good at working hard on Bai Guifang. A secretary of the township party Committee wanted to be transferred back to the county seat and was given a "New Year’s greeting" of 20,000 yuan in the Spring Festival of 2006. Bai Guifang is very happy. Bai Guifang will tell Wen Yang exactly who received the money. Later, this person was transferred back to the county seat by Wen Yang as a bureau chief.
Serve businessmen and make a lot of money
The trouble in Yongxing’s "officialdom" was heard by some businessmen with a keen sense of smell. Some businessmen know Yang Shuji’s "hobbies" and try their best to get close to him.
Wen Yang is also willing to serve businessmen. In public, it is said that it is to attract investment and develop local economy. In private, it seeks benefits for relevant enterprises in project bidding, land sale, house demolition and bank loans, and also makes more money for itself. Although there were only seven cases of bribery in Wen Yang, the amount of crimes reached more than 900,000 yuan and US$ 7,000.
During his tenure as director of the Municipal Transportation Bureau, he greeted Liu, a self-employed person in Yizhang, who undertook the project. After he became secretary in Yongxing, Wen Yang continued to be busy with Liu’s undertaking the project. The prosecution verified that from 2004 to 2007, Wen Yang accepted Liu’s request to greet his subordinates for Liu’s construction of the reconstruction project of Lanmang Highway in Yizhang County and the auxiliary project of Yongxing County Comprehensive Utilization Power Plant, and at Liu’s request, he rectified the deep-beyond-boundary mining of the lion-shaped coal mine near Xiangyang Coal Mine operated by Liu. In the process. Liu gave Wen Yang a total of 147,000 yuan four times.
In November, 2005, Li bought a piece of land in Yongxing County Development Zone to build a factory in the name of attracting investment, and asked his cousin Liu to find Wen Yang for help. Wen Yang paid special attention to this land and greeted the relevant departments on the change of land nature. In order to be grateful, Li entrusted his cousin Liu to give him a savings card of China Industrial and Commercial Bank with a memory of 200,000 yuan in Wen Yang dormitory. (Hu Jiushun Liu Zhen)
Editor: Li Xian