The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) detected 113
bribery cases in the banking sector in 2006 that involved 26.08
million yuan (US$3.34 million), and detained 164 people.
Most of the cases have either been settled by the courts or have
entered the judicial process, Gong Jie, an official in charge of
CBRC's anti-commercial bribery section said yesterday.
The CBRC has stepped up its efforts to prevent bribery or bring
the culprits to book in recent years, especially after the central
government tightened its resolve to eradicate the social and
economic malaise.
A total of 316 commercial bribery cases were dealt with between
2003 and 2005, involving more than 72.7 million yuan (US$9.3
million).
"In most of the cases, bank staff had taken bribes mainly to
grant loans for infrastructure construction or large purchases,
such as those needed for IT projects," Gong said.
Eleven of the cases between January 2001 and May 2006 involved
26.9 million yuan (US$3.45 million) and were related to the IT
projects of the top five banks: the Industrial and Commercial Bank
of China (ICBC), the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), Bank of
China (BOC), China Construction Bank and Bank of
Communications.
"Many cases were reported from State-controlled commercial banks
and rural cooperatives," he said. In fact, 55 of the 113 cases in
2006 involved State-controlled commercial banks, with 29 related to
rural cooperatives.
Some typical cases listed by the CBRC include:
ICBC's Hubei branch: Former general manager of its information
and science department, Wu Weigang, accepted 375,000 yuan
(US$48,000) in bribes to clear the branch's equipment purchase and
other projects between January 2002 and August 2004. Wu was
sentenced to six years in prison last year.
ABC's Shanghai branch: The former head of its security division,
Liu Gang, took 840,000 yuan (US$107,600) in bribes from three
companies to clear the purchase of security products and bidding
for equipment maintenance from them from November 2003 and December
2005. He was sentenced to 13 years in jail in October 2006.
BOC's Hainan branch: Former vice-president of the branch Qin
Zhixin accepted bribes worth more than 13 million yuan (US$1.67
million) from 1992 and 2005 to sanction bad loans, and to develop
property projects with some firms. He could neither account for
more than 20 million yuan (US$2.56 million) of his personal assets.
Qin was handed down a death sentence, suspened for two years, last
year.
China Everbright Bank: The former vice-president of the bank's
Heilongjiang branch Chen Hongbo, took 1.8 million yuan (US$230,700)
in bribes from 1999 to 2003. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison
in February 2006.
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ: Former general manager of the
Shanghai branch of the bank's computer department Cao Yunkan
accepted 59,000 yuan (US$7,500) from the company building its IT
network project in 2005. Cao was sentenced to one year, with a
one-year suspension.
Cao's case was the only one involving overseas invested banks
last year.
(China Daily January 31, 2007)