Cash considered as ‘low-class’ by corrupt officials
Print Edition
A BUSINESSMAN wanted a senior provincial official on his side and took a hint on how to do that when a deputy governor commented on the carved jade hanging from his belt, investigators allege.
They said Ji Lichang began acquiring jade for former Anhui Deputy Governor Ni Fake in return for mining rights and land for his metal business.
In a report, China’s corruption watchdog said Ni accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, much of it in carved jade.
The case illustrates how corrupt officials and businessmen are concealing bribery by using gifts of artwork and precious stones rather than money.
Ni came under scrutiny last June and was expelled from the Communist Party and removed from office in September.
In its report, the Party’s Discipline Inspection Commission said Ni’s alleged bribe-taking dated back to at least 2005 and that nearly 80 percent of it was in jade. It said Ni even sent a jade expert along with Ji on jade-buying trips.
The report said Ni had similar bonds with several other businessmen, who bought him jade and artworks and paid for his vacation expenses and home decorations.
Liu Shanying, a political scientist with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Chinese officials and businessmen have reached a tacit agreement to avoid cash transactions while trading favors.
“It has become a bureaucratic ecology that has greatly hurt the public interest,” Liu said, noting that cash bribes are considered low-class among corrupt officials.
Many corrupt officials also find it challenging to launder cash bribes. Ni told investigators jade was a better option because it could easily be hidden and passed off as a hobby.
Ni apparently dodged an investigation in 2012 when he returned some of his jade collection to Ji but reclaimed the stones when the investigation ended, the report said.
Ni also said he had considered placing the stones in a private gallery under Ji’s name to evade investigators, it said.
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