The Shanghai Higher People's Court has said that it will
carefully handle the two cases involving municipal Communist Party
chief Chen Liangyu and and business tycoon Zhou Zhengyi and will
not show leniency toward them.
In an interview with Xinhua, Liu Hua, deputy president of the
court, said that the court will launch a new working mechanism for
trial of special criminal cases this year.
"Naturally, great care will be given to review and trial of the
case of social security scandal in association with Chen Liangyu,
formerly secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the
Communist Party of China (CPC), and the case involving Zhou
Zhengyi," said the court official.
"If Chen and Zhou are proved guilty, we will adhere to the
principle of giving same punishments for same crimes, and will show
no leniency toward the two no matter how much wealth a convict owns
or how high an official post a convict used to hold," she said.
Zhou Zhengyi, former president of Shanghai-based property firm
Nongkai Development Group, was convicted of forging VAT receipts
and manipulating the stock market in June 2004, but was dealt
leniently and was sentenced to an imprisonment of three years
only.
"This time, both cases have drawn wide attention from the
society, so we ought to handle the two cases strictly according to
law," said the court official.
The court has decided on four types of crimes which should be
punished severely in accordance with the opinions worked out by the
Supreme Court about providing judicial guarantee in the campaign to
build a harmonious society in China, including the abuse of power
which led to embezzlement, taking bribes and negligence of
duty.
"Conditions for getting reprieves should be made known to the
general public in a bid to step up anti-corruption drive, and the
court grants reprieves where reprieves are applicable but should
exercise restraint when criminals are convicted of abuse of power
such as embezzlement and bribe-taking," said the court
official.
Shanghai's social security fund scandal was exposed to the
public last year, with 3.7 billion yuan (US$474 million) involved,
including 3.45 billion yuan (US$442 million) in principle and 250
million yuan (US$32 million) of interest.
Investigators found the money had been illegally loaned, by a
company of the municipal labor and social security bureau, to
Shanghai Feidian Investment Development Co. Ltd, a company
controlled by business tycoon Zhang Rongkun, number 16 on the
Forbes China Rich List in 2005.
Zhang was the first person arrested in the Shanghai social
security fund scandal, which also brought down a number of
high-ranking officials including Chen Liangyu, who was also a
member of the Political Bureau the CPC Central Committee.
Chen was sacked for his alleged involvement in the scandal by
the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China last
September.
Zhou Zhengyi started business as a teenager in a wonton noodle
shop and grew to number 11 on Forbes' list of 100 richest
mainlanders. He was also the majority shareholder of the Hong
Kong-listed Shanghai Land Holdings and Shanghai Merchants
Holdings.
In 2002, Forbes estimated Zhou's wealth at about US$320
million.
Zhou was in June 2004 convicted of forging VAT receipts and
manipulating the stock market and was sentenced to stay three years
behind bars.
He was released from prison last May after completing his
three-year sentence. But five months later, last October, Zhou was
detained as prosecutors found new clues of crime.
Zhou was formally arrested by the municipal procuratorate on
Jan. 21 this year with allegations of giving bribes and forging VAT
receipts.
(Xinhua News Agency February 14, 2007)