Shenzhen's former mayor Xu Zongheng (file photo)
Xu Zongheng colluded with businessmen to amass wealth using the power in his hands, and then used the bribe money he obtained to buy official positions. Although the act of buying offices involved many high-ranking officials, the central government does not want this to spread upward at present.
[China Entrepreneur Network] According to reports from Hong Kong's Shun Pao, the highly publicized corruption case of Shenzhen's former mayor Xu Zongheng will soon be announced, and due to the severity of the case, Xu Zongheng will be sentenced to death. Xu will become another high-ranking official from Guangdong province after former chairman of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Chen Shaogi to be sentenced to capital punishment. It is reported that Xu Zongheng's main offenses include large-scale embezzlement, buying offices, and moral corruption, among which the most serious charge is buying offices.
Xu Zongheng is currently detained in Nanning, Guangxi, and will be tried in the Nanning court within days, which is a common practice for异地trials. Due to the seriousness of the case, Xu Zongheng will be sentenced to death.
Tried to commit suicide by inserting chopsticks into his throat
On June 5th last year, Xu Zongheng was taken from his home to be investigated by the disciplinary inspection department. Because it involves intricate relationships between numerous political and business figures, Xu Zongheng was formally expelled from both the party and his public office (double expulsion) on August 18th this year, and was handed over to judicial authorities for handling. Sources indicated that during the early period of detention, Xu Zongheng was reluctant to confess to his crimes and even attempted suicide by inserting chopsticks into his throat.
According to an announcement by Xinhua News Agency in August, the internal party investigation showed that Xu used his position to provide benefits for others and received huge bribes; violated relevant regulations on clean self-discipline, accepting huge gifts and cash, and sought interests for relatives' business activities; led a corrupt life.
Since 1990, the personnel arrangements of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone's main leaders have basically been handled by central ministries or senior officials from other provinces designated by the center; however, Xu Zongheng broke through this tradition by connecting all the necessary channels. Sources pointed out that actually, the most serious charge against Xu Zongheng is buying offices. In the 12 years before his detention, Xu Zongheng rose step by step from being the director of the Organization Department of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China to the position of vice-ministerial level mayor of Shenzhen, involving acts of buying offices during this period. This accusation is not ordinary, violating the cardinal rule of the mainland officialdom.
Involved in 2 billion yuan of embezzlement
Another offense of Xu Zongheng is large-scale engineering embezzlement. Sources pointed out that the amount embezzled by Chen Shaogi was about 30 million yuan, which is dwarfed by the amount embezzled by Xu Zongheng. Known as the "Subway Mayor", Xu Zongheng almost got involved in all major projects in Shenzhen, accumulating embezzlement of more than 2 billion yuan over the years.
This includes the third phase of Taoyuan Village, one of the top ten livelihood projects of the Shenzhen government in 2008, where widespread quality problems were later revealed in the affordable housing project; the five subways promoted during Xu Zongheng's term; the World University Games venue project; Yantian-Baoguang Expressway, etc.
Xu Zongheng colluded with businessmen using the power in his hands to amass wealth, and then used the bribe money he obtained to buy official positions. Although the act of buying offices involved many high-ranking officials, the central government does not wish this to spread upward at present. After Xu's arrest, only local officials such as Li Ping, the secretary of the Futian District Party Committee, and Zhong Xinming, member of the Standing Committee of the Longgang District Party Committee and deputy district head, fell from grace. As for the main leaders of the city government who were close to Xu, they were not further pursued. Political commentator Liu Ruishao described that the severity of sentencing for these high-ranking officials is never determined by the severity of their offenses; the political considerations behind are more important. The Xu case is not a pure economic crime or corruption case, and cannot be decided by local courts. If Xu is sentenced to death, it clearly indicates that the central government wants to make an example of him, also considering the wide-ranging implications of the case.