By reporter Weina Peng, intern Chen Zaiwen, and correspondents Chongfei Yuan, Kai He, Xia Miao, and Jiahuan Luo
"During my first year of becoming addicted to mahjong, I only lost a few hundred thousand yuan. If I had stopped then, my family and I would have been able to repay the embezzled public funds. But I was already deep in it, wanting to win back the money through gambling, so I kept secretly withdrawing public funds to 'make up for my losses,' until it became uncontrollable." Facing the prosecutor's questioning, a middle-aged man expressed his regret.
This middle-aged man is Liu Sicong, former director of the Township Finance Bureau (referred to as Township Bureau) and agricultural tax accountant of Shuangxi District, Shaoyang City (deputy section level). From November 2002 to August 2007 over six years, he took advantage of his position managing public finances, embezzling more than 8.1 million yuan for gambling. Recently, he was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve by the Provincial Higher People's Court for embezzlement. Yesterday, the Shuangxi District People's Procuratorate of Shaoyang City exclusively disclosed the details of this corruption case to our newspaper.
In the "safest place," he attempted to escape by jumping out of a car but was caught.
"Liu Director, shouldn't the 1.2 million yuan of public funds you borrowed be returned to the account today?" On August 27, 2007, an employee of the Township Finance Bureau of Shuangxi District, Mr. Liao (a pseudonym), came to find Director Liu Sicong again. "Don't worry, I will return this money soon. You can go ahead and busy yourself," Liu Sicong said nonchalantly to Mr. Liao.
It turned out that some time ago, under the pretext of attracting savings for the Shiqiao Credit Cooperative, Liu Sicong transferred 1.2 million yuan of public funds managed by the Township Bureau into his own agricultural tax account. However, after several months, this public fund had not been returned to the Township Bureau's account. Despite Mr. Liao urging Liu Sicong multiple times to return the money, Liu always delayed with various excuses. Feeling something was amiss, Mr. Liao immediately reported the situation to the Shuangxi District Finance Bureau. The bureau quickly organized personnel to audit the accounts at the credit cooperative. The results shocked everyone: the 1.2 million yuan of public funds had already been withdrawn by Liu Sicong, and several other public funds in the Township Bureau's agricultural tax account had also disappeared.
Liu Sicong, who managed the Township Bureau's agricultural tax account, was a major suspect! On September 1st, when the procuratorial investigators arrived at Liu's residence, Liu had already fled to Changsha upon hearing the news. "Since he didn't have much money on him, he planned to borrow 200,000 yuan in high-interest loans in Changsha to escape, but the lender refused," according to Wei Min Zhang, deputy director of the Anti-Graft Bureau of Shuangxi District Procuratorate. With no way out, Liu Sicong decided to take a desperate risk and return to Shaoyang overnight to borrow money. "He thought the most dangerous place was the safest, fantasizing about borrowing high-interest loans in Shaoyang to escape," the prosecutors knew Liu would return by taxi to Shaoyang and organized forces to intercept him on the highway. At 1:40 AM on September 2nd, while a taxi with a Shaoyang license plate was paying at the Shaoyang East exit of the Tan-Shao Expressway, the prosecutor identified Liu Sicong sitting in the back seat of the taxi! Realizing his cover was blown, despite the car being in motion, Liu jumped out of the car and fled. However, within 100 meters, he was tackled down by the approaching prosecutor.
From playing small-stakes mahjong to losing 200,000 yuan in one game.
Faced with the prosecutor's interrogation, Liu Sicong initially adopted a defiant attitude, refusing to confess. The Shuangxi District Procuratorate promptly obtained relevant evidence, and under irrefutable proof, Liu Sicong completely broke down, detailing how he had used over 8 million yuan of public funds for gambling and card games over the past six years.
"I originally only played 5-yuan mahjong, and basically never lost. I thought my skills were quite good," Liu Sicong began by only playing small stakes, but his appetite grew larger. In 2001, Liu Sicong met a fellow gambler Yang Mou, who led him frequently into casinos, where they played mahjong with stakes reaching hundreds of thousands of yuan per game. "I felt my technique was so good that I wouldn't lose when playing cards," but since Liu Sicong started gambling, he lost more often than he won, losing up to 200,000 yuan in one game. As a deputy section-level official, Liu Sicong's annual income was only 20,000 yuan. With no money to pay off his gambling debts, he targeted the public funds he managed. "After getting addicted to gambling, all I could think about every day was this matter. Whenever there was an opportunity, I went to play cards," Liu Sicong said.
On November 3, 2002, driven mad by gambling, Liu Sicong withdrew 20,000 yuan from the agricultural tax account for the first time, which was quickly lost. "In the first year of becoming addicted to mahjong, I only lost a few hundred thousand yuan. If I had stopped then, my family and I could have made up for the shortfall in public funds. But I was already deeply involved, wanting to win back the money, so I kept secretly withdrawing public funds to 'make up for my losses.' By the second year, I had lost over a million yuan, and later even more. I had become numb," thus, Liu Sicong repeatedly extended his black hands toward the public funds of the Township Bureau.
Upon investigation, from November 2002 to August 2007, Liu Sicong took advantage of his position managing the financial accounts of the Township Bureau and the bank's public funds account, along with keeping the finance seal of the Agricultural Tax Bureau and cash checks. Using forged seals of the Agricultural Tax Bureau bank account supervisors Fan Mou and Song Mou, as well as the financial seal and his personal stamp that he kept, Liu privately issued cash checks, fabricated expenses, concealed incomes without recording them, and forged bank reconciliation statements, embezzling a total of 8,148,192.14 yuan in public funds.
The "upright person" in colleagues' eyes turned out to be a casino big spender.
"It's impossible that Liu Sicong would embezzle public funds for gambling, right?" Upon hearing the news of Liu Sicong's arrest, everyone was astonished. The 43-year-old Liu Sicong was a genuine peasant child. Starting as a regular salesperson at a supply and marketing cooperative, he relied on his intelligence and talent to pass the civil service exam, becoming the director of the Township Bureau of Shuangxi District (deputy section level) and concurrently serving as an accountant. In the eyes of colleagues and friends, Liu Sicong was an honest and straightforward person, usually quiet but clear-minded and full of ideas. "If nothing happened, he still had a promising future," one of Liu's colleagues told reporters, "Moreover, he never played cards with his colleagues, maintaining a very good reputation."
However, in the large and small casinos of Shaoyang, Liu Sicong, nicknamed "Liu Eyeglasses," was a well-known gambler. "His credit was excellent; every time he borrowed money from the casino, he could quickly repay it, and he was particularly generous," case-handling prosecutor Xiao Yong told reporters. If he didn't have enough cash on hand, Liu Sicong would borrow hundreds of thousands of yuan in high-interest loans without hesitation. Due to gambling, Liu Sicong divorced his wife, giving her the cash and house, forcing himself to rent a place to live. "At the time, I really didn't have much money, relying solely on my salary each month," Liu Sicong said. Because carrying large amounts of cash to gamble was both inconvenient and conspicuous, in February 2007, Liu Sicong bought a "Changan Benben" car using embezzled public funds. "This car was very flashy, making it convenient for me to gamble outside."
Unrepaid loans of 300,000 yuan caused hardship for relatives and friends.
Besides embezzling public funds, Liu Sicong also pretended to invest and borrowed more than 300,000 yuan from relatives and colleagues. Liu's sister was a simple farmer who worked hard to save 30,000 yuan for her old age. Liu Sicong told his sister to put the money with him, claiming he would use it for investment and give her dividends at the end of the year. His sister entrusted all her hopes to her brother and handed over the money without hesitation. Liu immediately lost it all at the casino. To this day, Liu's sister cannot believe that her brother has gambled away all her retirement money.
In addition to relatives, Liu's colleagues and friends also became victims. Many years ago, Liu claimed to have connections outside and could easily make money through investments. At the time, many people lent money to Liu out of curiosity, and Liu always quickly repaid them with high interest. In reality, this was a trap set by Liu Sicong. When everyone firmly believed in his investment channels, many people around Liu lent him money for investment. All of it was lost at the poker table. Now, Liu still owes 300,000 yuan to his colleagues and friends, which he cannot repay. As the public funds in the Township Bureau's account dwindled and he could no longer borrow money from those around him, Liu pinned his hopes on winning back his losses by gambling in Macau. In May and August 2007, he twice traveled to Macau with his girlfriend to gamble, losing 110,000 yuan in public funds. Liu's last dream of winning back his losses also shattered.
On March 31, 2008, the Intermediate People's Court of Shaoyang City sentenced Liu Sicong to death in the first trial for embezzlement. Liu Sicong subsequently appealed, and on November 11, 2008, the Provincial Higher People's Court made a second-instance ruling, sentencing Liu Sicong to death with a two-year reprieve for embezzlement.