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‘Favors’ returned with cars, villas
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THE former deputy chief of China’s top economic planning agency yesterday pleaded guilty in court to taking bribes worth almost 35.6 million yuan (US$5.8 million).
Liu Tienan, 59, was sacked as deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, a post that carries ministerial-level status, in May last year. He is one of the highest-profile officials to be prosecuted for corruption since President Xi Jinping launched an anti-graft campaign in late 2012.
The disgraced official broke down at the end of his one-day trial at Langfang Intermediate People’s Court in north China’s Hebei Province.
“I’m so sorry that I worked for more than 30 years at the NDRC, with the trust of the leaders and my comrades, but smeared a black mark on my workplace,” he was quoted as saying in the court transcripts.
“Faced with the facts, I have been asking myself every time I read the indictment, is this me? How did I end up like this? I am completely and bitterly remorseful,” he said.
Liu exploited his position to take bribes from various businesspeople in exchange for benefits such as project approvals and help in securing car dealerships, according to a statement released on the court’s account on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter.
Prosecutors said that the corruption, which involved both Liu and his son Liu Decheng, took place between 2002 and 2012, when Liu was section chief and later deputy director of the NDRC.
When accused of overindulging his son, the disgraced official was contrite.
“I ruined my son,” he said.
“I should take full responsibility for his guilt because it was me who led him down this guilty road.”
“Corruption harmed myself and my son and ruined my family. I hope other officials learn from me to never take the same path,” he said.
Between 2003 and 2011, Liu helped Guangzhou Automobile Group secure regulatory approval for several automobile and engine projects for its joint venture with Toyota, prosecutors said.
In return, the group’s Executive Chairman Zhang Fangyou created a position at the company for Liu’s son, with an annual salary of 1.2 million yuan.
Liu Decheng took the pay, though he never worked a single day for the carmaker, prosecutors said.
In 2005, Liu put Zhang Aibin, the controlling shareholder of a car dealership in Beijing, in touch with Zhang Fangyou so he could set up a GAC Toyota Motor shop, the court transcripts said.
Zhang Aibin paid Liu the younger 10 million yuan in return for the favor.
Prosecutors said that Liu and his son also facilitated deals on projects that included the sale of 30,000 tons of aluminium oxide to the Nanshan Group, parent of Shandong Nanshan Aluminium Co.
In return, the two men were paid bribes totaling 7.5 million yuan by Song Zuowen, chairman of Nanshan Group, the court heard.
In 2002, Liu, as a senior official in the NDRC, helped Nanshan get approval for an alloy project following a request from Song, the court said.
Also in 2005, Liu the elder accepted a request from Sun Yonggen, chairman of Ningbo Zhongjin Petrochemical Co, to approve a petrochemical plant, the court heard. In return, Sun bought Liu Decheng a car worth 336,000 yuan.
Between 2006 and 2011, Liu Tienan assisted chemical producer Hengyi Group Co with the approval process for several PTA (purified terephthalic acid) projects, prosecutors said.
In return, Hengyi executive Qiu Jianlin bought Liu Decheng a villa in Beijing and a Porsche car, worth a combined 15.5 million yuan, they said.
According to details of trial proceedings released on Weibo, Liu pleaded for leniency, arguing that he contributed to the anti-graft drive by “drawing on his personal experiences” to compile suggestions on how to prevent corruption.
He also confessed to investigators that he had received bribes worth nearly 19 million yuan, of which they were initially unaware.
Under Chinese law, Liu could face the death sentence if convicted of corruption. But the public prosecutor said in an opinion that Liu had been cooperative in handing over evidence to investigators so the court would be lenient.
The court adjourned yesterday afternoon and said via Weibo that a verdict would be announced at “an appointed date.”
Liu said in court that “as I have caused so much damage to the nation, I am too ashamed to defend myself. I will accept any punishment.”
Allegations against Liu surfaced in December 2012, when Luo Changping, deputy editor-in-chief of Caijing Magazine, accused him of falsifying his academic credentials, helping arrange US$200 million in bank loans for businessman Ni Ritao, and sending death threats to his mistress.
In May 2013, Liu was sacked for serious disciplinary violations. Three months later he was expelled from the Party and removed from public office. His son Liu Decheng has been dealt with in a separate trial, Xinhua news agency said.
President Xi Jinping has vowed to root out corrupt officials ranging from high-ranking “tigers” to low-level “flies,” and warned that graft could destroy the Communist Party.
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