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Scandals over fake hukou reveal black market
Source: Xinhua |
January 30, 2013, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
RECENT scandals have revealed a black market involving corrupt police and dealings in fake hukou or residence certificates, the legal document required to purchase property and access social services in China.
In the latest case, three police officers in northwest China were suspended after a former deputy bank chief under their jurisdiction was confirmed to have used multiple fake hukou to buy property.
The three, including the deputy head of the public security bureau of Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province, have been ordered to cooperate with investigators, said an official with the county committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Their punishments will be determined by further investigations.
lnitial investigations found that the two fake hukou, created in Shaanxi's neighboring Shanxi Province and transferred to the county, were revoked in January 2012 and on January 19, 2013. Another one, forged in Beijing, was revoked last Thursday.
The hukou is a Chinese permanent residence registration and personal identification system administered public security departments.
Whistle blowers
Gong Aiai, former deputy head of a bank in Shenmu, was confirmed to have four hukou, one of them legitimate.
Earlier this month, online whistle blowers revealed that Gong had accumulated more than 20 properties worth an estimated 1 billion yuan (US$159 million) in Beijing using fake IDs naming her as Gong Aiai and Gong Xianxia.
Following the online exposure, Gong explained that she quit her job with the Shenmu County Commercial Bank and started helping her family with their family businesses, which include mining. The houses were purchased with her legal income, and she did not use her position at the bank to acquire them, she said.
Yu Qingcai, chairman of the bank, said Gong tendered her resignation last year and has not contacted the bank since. The bank approved her resignation request early this month.
Soon after suspicion arose over Gong's own corruption, people diverted their attention to the broader issue of fake identities. They found Gong was far from alone in enjoying multiple hukou.
Zhai Zhenfeng, a former director of the housing administrative bureau in a district of Zhengzhou, capital of Henan Province, and his three family members were all confirmed to have multiple identities after they were found to own 31 houses last month.
Zhai was later arrested on suspicion of crimes by taking advantage of his position.
In China, hukou is strictly managed. It is an important certificate that allows people to have education in the area where it is issued, medical care, and to buy limited property.
Hukou transfer is usually very difficult, especially in big cities, for reasons of population control.
The most common way to transfer hukou is through university. A university graduate may have his hukou transferred to the city where he works if his company is allocated a hukou quota by authorities.
Black market
To cool the property market and speculation, the Chinese government last year prohibited individuals from buying a third house, prompting many people to acquire a fake identity to evade the legal limit.
A Xinhua reporter found by investigation that a fake hukou can be bought for between 30,000 yuan and 50,000 at a grassroots police station in a county in northeast China's Jilin Province.
"What do I need to prepare to get an extra hukou?" the reporter asked, pretending to be interested in buying one.
"Only a photo is needed, different from the one on your current ID card," a policeman replied, adding it took about one month to complete.
In fact, the new hukou is not even "fake," since all the documents and procedures are exactly the same as those used to get a legitimate one. The policeman said business has been thriving in recent years.
Zhao Yan (not his real name) told Xinhua he didn't worry about his forged ID because it would not be discovered.
"I will use it only when I buy more apartments, and the property transaction workers will find all information input by police on the computer database," he said. "The fake hukou will be useful if nobody blows the whistle on you."
Using fake hukou is not restricted to people purchasing extra properties. Corrupt officials themselves have also been found to have multiple identities to avoid the attention of watchdogs and the public.
Tao Yong, former head of the Public Security Bureau of Fengyang County, Anhui Province, had faked an ID under the name of Zhang Wei to open bank accounts in different cities so he could deposit bribe money.
Tao was arrested in mid-December for corruption and stood trial on January 16.
The ruling has not been handed down.
Chen Wenzhu, former head of the local branch of the tobacco monopoly in the southern city of Shanwei, Guangdong Province, forged IDs to bypass the ruling Party's restrictions on cadres traveling outside the mainland and he "illegally visited" Hong Kong and Macau 74 times. Chen was removed from his post and expelled from the Party for corruption in October 2011.
Experts say the rampant fake hukou market has revealed loopholes in police supervision.
"The root of the fake hukou market lies in corruption, since these police have deliberately broken the law for personal gain," said Sun Zhiming, head of the Economy Institute of the Jilin Provincial Academy of Social Sciences.
Sun called for thorough investigations to track the industry chain behind the black market and crack down on corruption in public security sectors.
The new Party leadership have vowed to battle corruption since they took office in November.
In the latest case, three police officers in northwest China were suspended after a former deputy bank chief under their jurisdiction was confirmed to have used multiple fake hukou to buy property.
The three, including the deputy head of the public security bureau of Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province, have been ordered to cooperate with investigators, said an official with the county committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Their punishments will be determined by further investigations.
lnitial investigations found that the two fake hukou, created in Shaanxi's neighboring Shanxi Province and transferred to the county, were revoked in January 2012 and on January 19, 2013. Another one, forged in Beijing, was revoked last Thursday.
The hukou is a Chinese permanent residence registration and personal identification system administered public security departments.
Whistle blowers
Gong Aiai, former deputy head of a bank in Shenmu, was confirmed to have four hukou, one of them legitimate.
Earlier this month, online whistle blowers revealed that Gong had accumulated more than 20 properties worth an estimated 1 billion yuan (US$159 million) in Beijing using fake IDs naming her as Gong Aiai and Gong Xianxia.
Following the online exposure, Gong explained that she quit her job with the Shenmu County Commercial Bank and started helping her family with their family businesses, which include mining. The houses were purchased with her legal income, and she did not use her position at the bank to acquire them, she said.
Yu Qingcai, chairman of the bank, said Gong tendered her resignation last year and has not contacted the bank since. The bank approved her resignation request early this month.
Soon after suspicion arose over Gong's own corruption, people diverted their attention to the broader issue of fake identities. They found Gong was far from alone in enjoying multiple hukou.
Zhai Zhenfeng, a former director of the housing administrative bureau in a district of Zhengzhou, capital of Henan Province, and his three family members were all confirmed to have multiple identities after they were found to own 31 houses last month.
Zhai was later arrested on suspicion of crimes by taking advantage of his position.
In China, hukou is strictly managed. It is an important certificate that allows people to have education in the area where it is issued, medical care, and to buy limited property.
Hukou transfer is usually very difficult, especially in big cities, for reasons of population control.
The most common way to transfer hukou is through university. A university graduate may have his hukou transferred to the city where he works if his company is allocated a hukou quota by authorities.
Black market
To cool the property market and speculation, the Chinese government last year prohibited individuals from buying a third house, prompting many people to acquire a fake identity to evade the legal limit.
A Xinhua reporter found by investigation that a fake hukou can be bought for between 30,000 yuan and 50,000 at a grassroots police station in a county in northeast China's Jilin Province.
"What do I need to prepare to get an extra hukou?" the reporter asked, pretending to be interested in buying one.
"Only a photo is needed, different from the one on your current ID card," a policeman replied, adding it took about one month to complete.
In fact, the new hukou is not even "fake," since all the documents and procedures are exactly the same as those used to get a legitimate one. The policeman said business has been thriving in recent years.
Zhao Yan (not his real name) told Xinhua he didn't worry about his forged ID because it would not be discovered.
"I will use it only when I buy more apartments, and the property transaction workers will find all information input by police on the computer database," he said. "The fake hukou will be useful if nobody blows the whistle on you."
Using fake hukou is not restricted to people purchasing extra properties. Corrupt officials themselves have also been found to have multiple identities to avoid the attention of watchdogs and the public.
Tao Yong, former head of the Public Security Bureau of Fengyang County, Anhui Province, had faked an ID under the name of Zhang Wei to open bank accounts in different cities so he could deposit bribe money.
Tao was arrested in mid-December for corruption and stood trial on January 16.
The ruling has not been handed down.
Chen Wenzhu, former head of the local branch of the tobacco monopoly in the southern city of Shanwei, Guangdong Province, forged IDs to bypass the ruling Party's restrictions on cadres traveling outside the mainland and he "illegally visited" Hong Kong and Macau 74 times. Chen was removed from his post and expelled from the Party for corruption in October 2011.
Experts say the rampant fake hukou market has revealed loopholes in police supervision.
"The root of the fake hukou market lies in corruption, since these police have deliberately broken the law for personal gain," said Sun Zhiming, head of the Economy Institute of the Jilin Provincial Academy of Social Sciences.
Sun called for thorough investigations to track the industry chain behind the black market and crack down on corruption in public security sectors.
The new Party leadership have vowed to battle corruption since they took office in November.
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