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Probe finds former Guangzhou official took US$11m in bribes
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By Yang Meiping | August 24, 2014, Sunday | Print Edition

THE former vice mayor of Guangzhou, who was removed from his office and dismissed from the Party last month, has been found to have accepted bribes totaling more than 70 million yuan (US$11.4 million).

The claims were made following an initial probe into Cao Jianliao, the disgraced official from the south China province, The Economic Observer reported on its website.

As a key figure in Guangdong for almost 30 years, Cao was able to influence major real estate deals. For the favors he granted property companies he was paid huge bribes, the report said.

One long-running case involved the development of Zhujiang New Town in Guangzhou’s Tianhe District, which was launched in 1992.

From 1985 to 1996, Cao was mayor and Party chief of Shahe Town in the city.

The first bribe linked to the project that Cao is known to have taken was in 1992, when he influenced the decision on which developer would be awarded the land on which the Shahe government building once stood, the report said.

The boss of the successful property company, surnamed Su, later paid Cao 2 million yuan, it said.

As the Guangzhou government was unable to finance the whole Zhujiang project, in 1993 it passed on some development decisions to village heads.

Cao introduced property firms to influential officials in charge of 19 plots slated for development, for which he was paid tens of millions yuan in cash and property, the report said.

In 1996, Cao was promoted to district head and party chief of Tianhe, a post he filled until 2001. Concurrently, he controlled the Shahe government.

In 1998, he and other senior officials were flown to Canada for a vacation by a property development company, which also gifted at least four houses to key officials, the report said.

In 2007, Cao bought 10 million yuan worth of stock in Su’s company, using funds given to him by Su.

Implicated

Another senior official implicated in the Cao case is He Jixiong, deputy Party secretary of Guangzhou’s Cooperation Office.

He was selected by Cao to succeed him as the Shahe chief, while He’s sister was made head of Shahe Economic Development Co, which manages the land owned by the town government, the report said.

Cao is said to have paid He more than 30 million yuan to collaborate with him, the report quoted a source close to the provincial discipline inspection commission as saying.

Cao and He made millions of yuan by extorting money from store owners in Shahe, which was renowned for its wholesale clothing markets, and where competition for space was fierce.

In a separate incident, in 1997, the Shahe Economic Development Co transferred the rights for a piece of land in the town to Tan Liqun, vice director of Guangzhou’s land and resource bureau, the report said.

Years later, it was developed by a company that Cao introduced to the town government. For his part in various deals, Cao was paid 9 million yuan, while Tan and other official received 26 million yuan, the report said.

In 2001, Cao was appointed district chief of Zhuhai, before moving on to become vice mayor of Guangzhou and Party chief of the county-level city Zengcheng. The report did not give exact dates for the promotions, but said Cao continued to work with developers after being appointed Zengcheng Party chief.

In 2012-13, he approved more than 60 construction projects in Zengcheng, it said. In one case he was paid HK$11 million (US$1.42 million) for helping Guangzhou Minjie Real Estate with a land and development deal.

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