中国Power !!!

[DefJam]

Mainlander who attacked senior Post editor pleads guilty to assault

PUBLISHED : Friday, 31 October, 2014, 7:18pm
UPDATED : Friday, 31 October, 2014, 7:18pm

Chris Lau [email protected]

Cliff Buddle was attacked by 26-year-old Liu Lu. Photos: SCMP Pictures

A mainlander who claimed to be a Tsinghua University student was fined HK$3,000 today at Eastern Court for attacking a South China Morning Post senior editor.

Liu Lu, 26, pleaded guilty on Friday to one count of common assault over the attack on University of Hong Kong lecturer Cliff Buddle, who is also the Post’s editor for special projects.

Deputy Magistrate Lee Siu-ho ordered Liu to pay the fine by the end of the day or face a week of jail.

But since Liu had been remanded in custody for 25 days, and had no cash today, he will be freed after the deadline for the fine expires.

The court heard that Liu approached Buddle on October 6 when the lecturer was teaching a media law and ethics class at HKU.

He complained about the fact that Buddle was conducting the class in English.

Liu used a folder to hit Buddle. When the editor used his hands to fend off the folder attack, Liu then kicked Buddle in the chest.

The court heard that Buddle’s chest and arm were sore after the attack.

But Liu, from Anhui province, disputed the injuries that Buddle sustained, forcing the court to launch a Newton hearing before the verdict was handed down.

The prosecution called Buddle and the doctor who treated him to testify in court, before ruling in Liu’s favour.

Buddle suffered injuries caused by light force, deputy magistrate Lee ruled.

During the Newton hearing, Liu asked Buddle to remove his top – a request turned down by the magistrate on the grounds that signs of the injuries had faded.

“You said you are injured. If so, then show me,” Liu said.

He then told the court that Buddle had attacked him on October 6. “I want to prosecute him,” Liu said.

The magistrate warned: “The court has to express its view that violence in Hong Kong is not to be tolerated.”

He stressed that it was commonplace that English was used in universities in Hong Kong. Lee said Liu had been locked up for more than 20 days.

“It’s a lesson for him,” said the magistrate, adding that a fine was appropriate.

Before being taken away, Liu told Buddle that he was sorry.

Outside court, the Post’s editor Buddle said: “I’m pleased that justice has taken its course.”

He also thanked his teaching assistants and students for their support.

 

[Rossi]

Corrupt coal official had 200 million yuan in cash stashed at home, prosecutors say

Subhead: Wei Pengyuan’s haul a record since founding of the People’s Republic of China; cash-counting machines break down under excessive workload

PUBLISHED : Friday, 31 October, 2014, 7:05pm
UPDATED : Friday, 31 October, 2014, 7:05pm

Andrea Chen [email protected]

A corrupt coal official stashed 200 yuan in cash at his home. Photo: AFP

Investigators have found more than 200 million yuan (HK$252 million) in local and foreign currency at the home of an energy official – a record haul of corrupt cash since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, prosecutors said on Friday.

It confirms media reports from earlier this year that Wei Pengyuan, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission’s (NDRC) coal department, had been put under investigation amid the sweeping crackdown on corruption in the country’s energy sector.

Wei was found to have bought several apartments and used one of them to store the huge pile of cash, according to media reports. Investigators had to use16 cash-counting machines to record the haul, and four of the machines broke down under the excessive workload, Caixin, a mainland financial magazine, reported.

“It marks the largest amount of money in cash we have seized from a corrupt official during a single operation since 1949”, said Xu Jinhui, an official from the Supreme People’s Procuratorate who oversees the handing of graft cases.

The scandal triggered heated discussion among mainland microbloggers, with many saying it was impossible for the an ordinary citizen with an average annual disposable income of 18,311 yuan to picture the stash.

If stacked in 100 yuan notes, the microbloggers estimated, the resulting pile would reach two metres high and weigh more than 2.3 tonnes.

Wei was one of 11 officials facing trial on bribery charges laid down by the NDRC, the powerful economic policy planning agency, Xu said. Six of the corrupt officials had accepted more 60 million yuan in bribes each.

Other sacked officials from the commission include its former deputy chief Liu Tienan, who stood trial for having allegedly taken 36 million yuan in bribes.

“They are in charge of both policy making and the approval of development projects. In other words, they decide how much profit an enterprise can make,” Xu said.

As the price of coal surges, the NDRC’s coal department that issues licences for mines becomes a high-risk area for corruption.

The top procuratorate had played a more active role in the country’s anti-corruption drive this year, Xu added. It has charged 35,633 officials with bribery in the first nine months this year, a 5.6 per cent increase compared to the same period last year. Eight in 10 cases involve bribes of more than 50,000 yuan or embezzlement of over 100,000 yuan.

The procuratorate has also joined the hunt for corrupt officials who have fled aboard, which has seen 502 of them tracked down between January and September.

 

[XabiAlonso]

Beijing baby killer executed

Source: Xinhua Published: 2014-10-31 14:28:21

A Beijing court announced that the convicted killer of a two-year-old girl was executed on Friday.

Han Lei's death sentence was upheld by the Supreme People's Court, the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court said on its verified account on Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter.

Han, 40, who claimed to be intoxicated at the time, was arguing with the child's mother over a parking space in Beijing's Daxing District on July 23 last year when he grabbed the girl and threw her to the ground. He fled the scene but was arrested the next day.

The girl sustained severe injuries and died just days later.

The atrocity sparked nationwide outrage and prompted discussions about child protection.

The intermediate court found Han guilty of intentional homicide and handed down the death penalty in September. Han lodged an appeal, which was rejected by the Beijing Higher People's Court in November.

Han had only been out of prison for nine months before the incident.

 

[TellMeWhy]

Man slashes 3 schoolchildren in southeastern China

PUBLISHED : Friday, 31 October, 2014, 7:14pm
UPDATED : Friday, 31 October, 2014, 7:16pm

Associate Press in Beijing

The crime scene in Yiyang county, Jiangxi. Photo: Weibo screenshot

A man in southeastern China slashed a first-grader to death and severely injured two others on Friday in the country’s latest violent attack on children.

The man slashed the three children with a knife while they were returning home from school for a noon break, said Han Li, a propaganda official for Yiyang county in the southeastern province of Jiangxi. The attack took place in Luojia village.

“They were almost home when it happened,” Han said over the phone.

Police were searching for the man in an all-out effort, and the motive for the attack was not immediately clear, Han said.

China has seen a string of attacks on children in recent years by culprits often identified as being mentally ill or angry at society. In September, a man fatally stabbed four students as they were walking to their elementary school in the southern province of Guangxi. The man was later found having killed himself, media reports said.

Also in September, a 40-year-old man stabbed students and teachers with a fruit knife at an elementary school in the central province of Hubei, killing three children and injuring six other people before jumping to his death.

 

[XabiAlonso]

China captures 180 economic crimes suspects abroad in campaign

Source: Xinhua Published: 2014-10-31 9:23:39

China has captured 180 economic crime suspects abroad since a campaign began in July, the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) said Thursday.

The suspects are were apprehended in 40 countries and regions: 104 were arrested by the police and 76 returned to China to give themselves up. The number surpassed that of last year, the MPS said.

A total of 44 among them are involved in economic cases worth of over 10 million yuan each, the MPS said.

China launched the Fox Hunt 2014 operation in July to "block the last route of retreat" for corrupt officials at a time when a major crackdown on graft had already narrowed the space for abuse of power.

Thanks to cooperation and support of related countries and regions, the operation made "breakthroughs" in Africa, South America, the South Pacific and Western Europe, the Ministry said.

China has sent 20 teams to Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia and other neighboring countries, arresting 75 suspects.

Liu Jinguo, vice minister of the MPS, urged police around the country to strengthen publicity and encourage people to provide tips.

Liu also vowed to hold officials accountable if their negligence of duty leads to absconding of economic criminals, and pledged to bring to justice those that provide fake identities and passports to suspects.

 

[XabiAlonso]

Thirty-somethings leading China’s fox hunt fugitive chase

Team seeking to track down those suspected of corruption who have fled abroad has caught more than 100 people so far

PUBLISHED : Friday, 31 October, 2014, 5:43pm
UPDATED : Friday, 31 October, 2014, 5:45pm

Angela Meng and Keira Lu Huang

Wang Qishan, secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, heads efforts to root out corruption. Photo: AFP

China’s tenacious fox hunt campaign operatives are, on average, highly educated men and women in their thirties with overseas experience, China’s state media said.

The Wechat account of the People’s Daily’s international edition yesterday disclosed more details of the high-profile “fox hunt operation” led by China’s Ministry of Public Security to seize fugitives involved in economic crimes.

“This team responsible for the operation is a pretty mysterious team. They are not hiding in woods, but exposing themselves in the concrete jungle on Beijing’s Finance Street,” the article said.

Operatives of the fox hunt include graduates from British universities, people with doctorates in economics and juris masters.

There is also a designated travel agency, which operates 24/7, for the team.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Public Security announced that more than 100 fugitives suspected of corruption who have fled overseas have been caught.

The People’s Daily article cited a report by the Global Financial Integrity, based in Washington, that said about US$1.08 trillion had been taken out of China illegally between 2002 to 2011. In Australia, the amount of illicit money coming by way of China is in the hundreds of millions of Australian dollars, said the article, citing a police officer responsible for Asia at the Australian Federal Police.

One of China’s most high-profile fugitives who allegedly fled to Australia after being placed under investigation for corruption is Gao Yan, the former managing director of the State Power Corporation. He is believed to have strong ties to Li Xiaopeng, his former deputy general manager and the son of Li Peng, former chairman of the National People’s Congress.

The Australian Financial Review said in a report today that Gao’s son, Gao Xinyuan, spent five years setting up companies in Australia and dabbled in real estate development before his father fled to Australia in 2002.

In recent years, the Chinese government has been tightening its grip on the so-called naked officials – corrupt officials who sent their families abroad with the money – fearing they too may flee overseas after their corruption was exposed.

The Australian Financial Review quoted a source saying that the country’s federal police force was helping China investigate Gao and his family in a joint effort to seize illegal assets.

“We have a long-standing practice that we don’t confirm or deny who the AFP may or may not be investigating,” a spokesman for the police agency told the newspaper.

The Australian Federal Police did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.

Australian corporate filings show that the younger Gao was a shareholder and director of Jutan Development and Yutan Property, the latter of which was set to develop a A$1.8 million piece of land in Australia’s Neutral Bay. In 2002, he sold the site for A$3 million.

The elder Gao was placed under investigation for corruption in April of that year. His son returned to China in October and was charged with corruption the same year and sentenced to five years in jail.

 

[Rossi]

Manhunt launched after kids murdered

Source: Global Times-Agencies Published: 2014-11-1 0:03:01

Police in East China's Jiangxi Province have launched a manhunt after two primary school students were stabbed to death on Friday, authorities said.

The killer, who appeared to be around 50, attacked three children as they walked home from school at 11 am in Luojia village, Yiyang county, a spokesman with the county's publicity department said.

The chief suspect is a man released from prison in April. He fled to a mountain nearby and is still on the run.

An 8-year-old boy died at the scene and one child died in hospital. The other injured boy remains in intense care, China News Service said.

There have been a series of attacks on school children in recent years which have triggered public discussion about school security.

In May, a knife-wielding man stabbed and injured eight students in a primary school in Hubei Province. In December 2012, a man barged into a village primary school in Henan Province and stabbed and injured 23 children.

 

[Muslera]

Zhou Yongkang yet to be prosecuted in corruption probe, senior court official reveals

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 01 November, 2014, 11:45am
UPDATED : Saturday, 01 November, 2014, 1:11pm

Staff Reporter

Former security tsar Zhou Yongkang is being investigated for corruption. Photo: Reuters

Former security tsar Zhou Yongkang has yet to be prosecuted, according to a senior court representative, marking the first official update on the progress of a corruption probe that was announced three months ago.

Speaking at a press conference this morning, Jiang Bixin, a vice-president of the Supreme People’s Court, promised a trial would be held according to legal procedures after indictment.

The Communist Party’s anti-graft watchdog announced on July 29 that it was investigating law and order chief Zhou – making him the first serving or former member of the elite Politburo Standing Committee to be probed.

Zhou had a power base that extended from the petroleum industry to Sichuan officialdom, police and the legal affairs establishment.

At least 37 companies, some as far afield as North America, are either owned by Zhou’s family or have links to it, according to corporate documents seen by the South China Morning Post. The businesses are involved in oil production, property development, hydropower and tourism.

Analysts said Zhou was not directly involved in business deals but his son Zhou Bin, 42, held the reins.

Zhou is reportedly an ally of former Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai, who was expelled from the party and sentenced to life in September last year for bribery, corruption and abuse of power.

Earlier this week the party broke its silence on Zhou's case, saying there was no decision on his fate at its annual plenum because he was no longer a state leader.

 

[XabiAlonso]

Horse bites off woman’s fingers

Source: Global Times Published: 2014-11-2 20:43:01

A visit to an animal farm became a terrifying experience for a woman in Quanzhou, East China's Fujian Province after a horse bit off and swallowed two of her fingers, media reported Sunday.

The woman surnamed Zeng, 38, was feeding a horse during a guided tour of Wuling Farm when it chomped on her left hand, resulting in the loss of her ring finger and half of her pinky.

Surveillance footage showed that Zeng had attempted to feed the horse a handful of grass taken from the ground.

Zeng was immediately rushed to a local hospital for emergency treatment.

The missing digits were not recovered.

Zeng blamed the incident on a lack of signage and protective fencing.

Employees said the incident was the first of its kind at the farm and posted warning signs Saturday afternoon.

fjsen.com

 

[MirrorMan]

Teen earns slap in face for elevator experiment

Source: Global Times Published: 2014-11-2 20:48:01

A curious teenager in Shaanxi Province found out too late that pushing almost all the buttons in an apartment building elevator would really push his neighbor's buttons.

Xiao Du (pseudonym) told the Xi'an-based Chinese Business View that he pressed every button between the third and 27th floors "out of curiosity" while riding the lift with his mother on Friday, local media reported.

However, not everyone was on board with the idea. A resident alerted security at the apartment complex, who then called the 17-year-old of the second floor and his mother into their video surveillance room.

"A man in the room asked my son if he was the person in the video and then he slapped him on the left cheek when my son said 'yes.' Then several security guards began criticizing us," Xiao Du's mother said.

Camera footage showed that as a result of the stunt, the elevator took almost eight minutes to reach the top floor instead of the average two minutes.

According to a security guard, the boy's assailant was another resident of the building who complained to staff about the delayed elevator and demanded they arrange a face-to-face with him and the teen.

The teenager's face was reportedly still swollen on Saturday and his mother has called the police seeking an apology from the resident.

 

[Rossi]

Jail escapee found a day later not from dilapidated prison in Shouguan

PUBLISHED : Monday, 03 November, 2014, 5:35am
UPDATED : Monday, 03 November, 2014, 5:35am

Mandy Zuo [email protected]

Li Mengjun (centre) was seized about a kilometre away from the jail yesterday afternoon. Photo: Xinhua

A man who broke out of a Guangdong jail on Saturday was captured near the prison 29 hours later, mainland media reported.

Li Mengjun, 28, scaled a wall at Beijiang Prison in Shaoguan , in the north of the province, on Saturday morning by standing on the shoulders of another prisoner. He suffered an electric shock and was thrown clear of the wall. and the other inmate fell back inside, the Guangdong Provincial Prison Administration said on Saturday.

He was seized at a deserted brick factory about a kilometre away from the jail yesterday afternoon, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported, quoting an unnamed local police source.

It is thought Li was injured in the escape and was unable to flee farther. Armed police found him during a search near the prison.

Chen Dachao, deputy head of the provincial prison administration, was quoted by Xinhua as saying that Li and another inmate, Wu Changgui, 37, sneaked to the wall via a fire escape from a workshop. Wu aided Li but did not escape.

Xinhua said facilities at the jail were outdated and it was under renovation. The two were able to escape the guards' attention because an unoccupied building earmarked for demolition obscured their vision, it added.

"This incident occurred because our prison has problems with housekeeping and controlling hidden perils," Chen said.

Li, who had 19 years and nine months of his jail sentence remaining, was convicted in 2005 of robbing and severely injuring a motorcyclist with another man, a relative from the same village in Xinning county, Hunan , where he grew up.

The other man fled, and was removed from the police wanted list six years later, the Beijing Times cited Li's sister as saying. She claimed Li had received a harsher sentence than he deserved because police failed to capture the accomplice.

 

[Pfizer]

Group accused of attempting to blackmail Hunan officials with sex tapes

PUBLISHED : Monday, 03 November, 2014, 4:41pm
UPDATED : Monday, 03 November, 2014, 4:58pm

Chris Luo [email protected]

Hunan province will launch a new trial of a sex tape extortion case that allegedly targeted eight officials. Photo: Xinhua

Hunan province will try a group of six people accused of targeting officials with a sex tape blackmail scheme, amid accusations that local police officers also took part in the alleged blackmail.

Investigations into six suspects have concluded and their files were passed to prosecutors last month, The Beijing News reported on Monday.

The four male and two female suspects from Changning are accused of orchestrating sex scandals by seducing local officials into having casual sex and secretly recording the encounters. They allegedly threatened to make public the recordings if the officials did not pay large sums of money.

Having extramarital affairs, though not against the law, constitutes a serious violation of Communist Party disciplinary codes. The official rhetoric describes it as “living a degenerate lifestyle”.

Scrutiny of officials’ personal lives by party officers has become more strict lately in the wake of the extensive anti-corruption campaign. The party’s discipline inspection apparatus has either suspended or sacked at least a dozen senior officials who were found “conducting adultery” or “having sexual relations with multiple women”.

A court in 2011 found the same group blackmailed Changning’s labour bureau chief for 600,000 yuan after luring him into a compromising situation, but only two of the six members were indicted, and both received suspended sentences. Extortion is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, according to Chinese law.

The local discipline inspection committee found this year that the same group had attempted to blackmail seven more officials.

Then in June, police officers in Changning were accused of trying to use the confiscated video footage to blackmail the officials themselves. A number officers were suspended pending the results of investigations.

One official was sacked and detained on suspicion of trying to bribe police after he was allegedly blackmailed.

In recent years, an increasing number of sex scandals, some involving extortion schemes, have exposed corrupt Chinese officials. Many of these cases came to light after incriminating photos were leaked online.

The Chongqing government last year sacked 10 senior officials and managers of state-run companies after they were implicated in a single sex tape that surfaced on the internet.

Also last year, police in Guangxi province busted an extortion ring that had allegedly blackmailed local officials using fake sexually explicit photographs. The criminals attempted to send out 210 blackmail letters, demanding over 45 million yuan, police said.

The illicit practice was reportedly so rampant that officials decided to blur their mug shots on government websites to hinder the blackmailers' work, a decision which drew ridicule from internet users.

 

[Pfizer]

Datong residents locked up for celebrating graft probe into Party official with fireworks

PUBLISHED : Monday, 03 November, 2014, 4:25pm
UPDATED : Monday, 03 November, 2014, 4:25pm

Patrick Boehler [email protected]

A Datong resident celebrating the dismissal of the city's party secretary. Photo via Weibo

Police in the northern Chinese city of Datong have detained at least 10 people after they celebrated the sacking and corruption investigation of the city's top official by lighting fireworks and singing the national anthem.

The detained local residents were each locked up for three to 15 days for “disrupting social order” and then released, reported thepaper.cn, a political news portal run by the state-owned Shanghai United Media Group.

Zhao Yunxiao, a 53-year-old Datong resident who said he had received an administrative detention of 15 days after bringing national flags to celebrations in front of the city's Communist Party office on October 15, has issued a statement online threatening to sue the police.

Party graft inspectors said on October 15 that Feng Lixiang, the 57-year-old Communist Party secretary of Datong, was investigated on suspicion of corruption, only one day after he chaired an anti-corruption meeting.

The announcement seemed to have energised Feng's critics in the city, and large crowds soon gathered in front of the local Communist Party headquarters, with many residents setting off fireworks, singing the national anthem, and parading with banners which praised the Party and condemned corrupt officials.

Some were hauled away by police from the scene, according to media reports.

The reactions to Feng's fall from grace seem to come into stark contrast with the popular treatment of another senior city official.

When former mayor Geng Yanbo, who had spearheaded a controversial urban renewal project in the city, was promoted last year to become the mayor of provincial capital Taiyuan, some residents went down on their knees pleading him to stay, local media reported.

Residents claimed they had gathered as many as 10,000 signatures asking Geng to keep serving the city. State media even reported that some city officials wept at Geng departure banquet.

The urban renewal project, which started under Geng in 2007, had divided the coal-rich city, where many favour rebuilding the city’s ancient centre and the economic growth it might bring, but others resented it as their homes were seized in the process.

The latest detentions have left columnist Zhu Xiaohua wondering why the residents could be accused of “inciting the masses”, when they all they did was singing their national anthem and waving their national flag.

“Some places seem to have succumbed to ‘people-phobia’,” he writes on Rednet, a provincial news portal based in Hunan. “As soon as they see masses of people gather, they see a ‘mass incident’.”

“I wonder who gave Datong police its authority to keep residents from normally expressing themselves, and even attack them? Who do they work for?”

 

[AnotherOneBitestheDust]

Show us the money: How corrupt Chinese official's 200m yuan stash might look

Wei Pengyuan was found to have bought several flats and used one of them to store a huge pile of cash, according to media reports

SCMP Graphics

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 01 November, 2014, 12:28pm
UPDATED : Monday, 03 November, 2014, 6:05pm

Investigators found more than 200 million yuan (HK$252 million) in local and foreign currency at the home of a mainland energy official - the biggest haul of corrupt cash since the establishment of the People's Republic.

It confirms media reports from earlier this year that Wei Pengyuan, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission's (NDRC) coal department, was under investigation as part of the sweeping crackdown on corruption in the energy sector.

 

[XabiAlonso]

China's shadow banking too profitable to stop

Asset management companies, created by the mainland government to tackle bad bank debt, have become key players in financing the sector

PUBLISHED : Monday, 03 November, 2014, 4:19am
UPDATED : Monday, 03 November, 2014, 5:38pm

Don Weinland [email protected]

China Cinda Asset Management has grown its shadow-lending business to 158 billion yuan from 9.7 billion yuan in 2011. Photo: Reuters

Returns from the mainland's shadow banking industry have been too good for too long - and it is still default-proofed by the central government.

That is why bigger, more aggressive state-owned players such as insurers and centrally controlled asset management companies are carving out their space in the market as fast as regulation allows.

Insurers on the mainland nearly doubled their investments in trust products in the first half of the year, according to data released by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission. Seventy-eight insurers had invested 280.5 billion yuan (HK$355.8 billion) by June, an increase of 95 per cent from the start of the year.

Meanwhile, shadow-banking lending by asset management companies is dwarfing the non-performing loan business they were originally tasked with, according to a recent CLSA report, which warned they were adding to risk rather than reducing it.

The CIRC issued a set of regulations last month meant to curb the industry's rapidly growing exposure to trust products by imposing stricter solvency requirements on the investments.

The new rules were welcomed by Fitch Ratings, which said they could slow investment in opaque products. But the CIRC also opened a new channel last month through which insurance companies can access the shadow banking market - allowing them to use premiums on certain policies, known as union-link policies, to invest in non-standard financial products.

Banks have traditionally preferred to structure off-balance-sheet products through trust companies and brokers in order to reach end borrowers such as property developers and steel manufacturers.

Deep-pocketed insurers might become a better-suited partner for banks still trying to reach risky yet high-return projects through off-the-books loans.

"This essentially gives bank wealth management products an alternative channel to invest in restricted sectors" such as property and infrastructure projects built by local governments, David Cui, a strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said in a report. "Actually, union links may become the most preferred channel for banks: insurers dwarf brokers and funds in capital base and fund-raising capabilities, so they are a better partner when sharing the burden of implicit guarantee."

Insurance companies are not the only big players to catch on to the government's implicit guarantee that defaults of wealth management products will not be tolerated, even at small companies or with trusts funded solely by wealthy investor money.

The four asset management companies created by the government in 1999 to dispose of bad bank debt have become key players in financing the shadow banking industry, according to CLSA China banks analyst Patricia Cheng.

The companies borrow from state banks at benchmark rates and then relend the funds at much higher rates to those strapped for cash.

China Cinda Asset Management, which listed in Hong Kong last year, has grown its shadow-lending business to 158 billion yuan from 9.7 billion yuan in 2011, according to the CLSA report.

The operations, which Cinda calls "restructured business", are almost seven times the size of its non-performing loan business - the task it was originally created to undertake.

"Instead of resolving the risks, which AMCs were established to accomplish, they have become a risk to the system themselves," Cheng said in the report, which noted that Cinda earned an average of 12.2 per cent from the lending, far higher than the 3 per cent it paid for its bank loans.

While helping to expand the risk in the shadow banking market, the asset management companies are also playing a role in keeping Beijing's implicit guarantee intact.

Andrew Collier, the managing director of Orient Capital Research, said they had been called in by the central government to bail out some of the most high-profile default cases this year, and the trend was likely to grow.

China Huarong Asset Management reportedly saved a trust product worth 1.3 billion yuan in Shanxi province at the beginning of the year, bailing out a group of 340 wealthy investors.

China Great Wall Asset Management reportedly guaranteed a bond last month in the bailout of Shanghai-based Chaori, a small, government-owned solar firm.

"You're going to see an increasing number of these recapitalisations," Collier said. "The AMCs are becoming the go-to actor for Beijing in resolving shadow banking problems."

 

[XabiAlonso]

Corruption said to be rampant in China’s sports sector

Anti-graft investigation finds top rankings can be bought and match-fixing 'quite serious' at some events, official says

PUBLISHED : Monday, 03 November, 2014, 11:40am
UPDATED : Monday, 03 November, 2014, 7:17pm

Stephen Chen [email protected]

Liu Peng, director of the sports administration, said the investigation had conducted a “thorough body check” on his agency and taught officials there a “deep lesson”. Photo: Xinhua

Corruption is rampant in China’s sports sector, and some senior government officials with the top national sports authorities will be investigated, according to anti-graft inspectors.

Zhang Huawei, leader of a disciplinary inspection team dispatched by the central government to the General Administration of Sport, said on Saturday it has heard many complaints about corruption, and some valuable leads were handed over to anti-graft authorities for further investigation.

China sacked at least six senior officials and players for match-fixing and bribery in soccer games two years ago, but the latest official statement suggested that the problem was more widespread.

Zhang’s remarks, posted on the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China yesterday, revealed details on the extent of corruption in the sports management sector.

The official credentials given to a game, athlete or referee were often “not regulated, not open, not transparent”, he said.

A person could “buy” a top match ranking to become a professional athlete. Some government accredited swimmers had never been in the water and hurdlers were sometimes too out of shape to actually compete, according to mainland media reports earlier this year.

The practice was particularly common among high school students with their parents often providing the money, because being a professional athlete would bring additional points in the national college entrance exam.

Anti-graft investigators have found that some government accredited swimmers had not even been in the water. Photo: AFP

Zhang said that match-fixing was “quite serious” at some sports events, and the commercial development of games was “chaotic” without necessary regulations and supervision.

While far from the only country involved in sports scandals, officials in China enjoy much greater power than their overseas counterparts due to a top-down management system that was created during the planned economy period to screen and train for medalists in international competitions, Zhang pointed out.

The General Administration of Sport had “highly concentrated power” with most officials having a second job in business with “sophisticated interest networks”, Zhang said.

He urged powerful measures be taken against corruption issues such as regulating sports-related business activities and punishing match-fixing with severity and transparency.

Liu Peng, director of the sports administration, said Zhang’s team had conducted a “thorough body check” on his agency and taught officials there a “deep lesson”. He said they would follow the inspectors’ advice to address the corruption issues, according to the CCDI article.

In 2012, two former heads of the Chinese Football Association, a former national team captain, the country’s top referee and at least four former national team players were convicted of taking bribes and sentenced to prison.

 

[Hypocrisy]

Guangdong officials buy corpses to meet cremation quota

Xinhua
2014-11-03

Two officials in southern Guangdong province were found purchasing corpses from grave robbers in order to meet government cremation quotas, Chinese media reported last week.

In late June, a resident surnamed Gu from Shizhai village of Beiliu in south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region reported his grandfather's body had been stolen from the graveyard where it was buried.

Since body theft cases frequently occur in the region, Gu and other family members were guarding the graveyard in turns. Still, they failed to prevent the theft of his corpse.

In early July, police from Beiliu apprehended a grave robber surnamed Zhong based on an investigation. Zhong said he has stolen more than 20 corpses in local villages at night, put them into a bag, and transported them by motorcycle to neighboring Guangdong province.

Zhong then disclosed a surprising detail about the crime. He said he sold the corpses to two officials from Gaozhou and Huazhou in Guangdong.

With the help of Guangdong police, the two suspects, surnamed He and Dong, were arrested. Both were local officials in charge of funeral management reform. They told police that they bought the corpses to meet the government cremation quota.

China has a long tradition of ancestor worship, which usually requires families bury their relatives and construct a tomb.

In recent years, the country has forward a campaign encouraging cremation to save on limited land resources. Whether people are in favor of preserving farmland or upholding cultural tradition, the burial reform has aroused great controversy in rural regions.

In He and Dong's towns, the local government has demanded a certain number of the dead should be cremated each month based on the total local population of the previous year.

Reacting to the news of the quota, people in the area began burying the corpses of their relatives in secrecy. Pushed to meet their quota, the two officials sought to purchase the corpses and send them to funeral parlor for cremation.

Dong was found to have bought 10 corpses for 3000 yuan (US$490) each, while the number of bodies purchased by He was unavailable. The cost for corpses paid by He was 1,500 yuan (US$245) each. The deal was supposedly "approved" by the government.

Further investigation is under way.

Many villagers from Guangxi have reported the graveyards of their family members had been excavated and corpses stolen in recent years.

It is a commonly held belief in China that a good location for the tombs of ancestors can bring good luck and happiness to living relatives. Damaging tombs can spell disaster. This theory has made it taboo to dig up the tombs of others' ancestors in traditional Chinese culture.

 

[Hypocrisy]

30 said injured in protests over Shanghai battery plant

Staff Reporter
2014-11-03

Police subdue a man protesting against the planned battery plant in Pudong on Oct. 31. (Internet photo)

Around 30 demonstrators have been injured and another 20 arrested in Shanghai during protests against the construction of a new battery plant in the city's Pudong district, reports Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao.

Locals from Pudong's Nicheng township reportedly began congregating in the town center from the morning of Oct. 31 to protest government plans to allow Shanshan Technology to build a lithium-ion battery plant in the area.

Up to as many as 4,000 people reportedly took part in the demonstrations at one point, with protesters holding signs like "We love Shanghai, oppose pollution!" and "Battery plant get out of Nicheng." Many participants said they did not even know there were plans to build a factory in Nicheng until recently as there had been no notices put up.

Demonstration organizers said they were banding together to protest against the heavy pollution that would result from the battery plant for the sake of their homes and the future of their children.

The Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights & Democracy said there were two major clashes with police during the protests, which lasted until the afternoon of Nov. 1, when authorities told protesters that the battery plant project had been abandoned. The website cited witnesses as saying that police squads of as many as 200 officers used heavy-handed tactics to suppress the demonstration, beating and dragging people away to disperse the crowds. At least 30 people were reportedly injured and another 20 arrested by public security officials.

This is the third battery plant project to be scrapped in Shanghai over the last two years. Last year, projects in Shanghai's Songjiang and Huinan districts were suspended following similar demonstrations.

 

[Rossi]

17-year-old charged over sickening attack

Shanghai Daily, November 5, 2014

One of three teenagers alleged to have taken part in a sickening assault on a 13-year-old boy in the Beijing area has been charged with fighting in public.

Footage of the attack in May, in which the victim was punched, kicked, hit with a brick and urinated on, was posted online, leading to a public outcry.

Yesterday, prosecutors from Chaoyang District said one of the three suspects, a 17-year-old surnamed Yang, has been charged with affray.

The other suspects, 14-year-olds surnamed Guo and Cheng, are too young to be charged with the offense.

Prosecutors did not give the condition of the victim, whose name was not disclosed.

There was widespread public anger and condemnation of the 8-minute 40-second clip posted on the Internet.

It shows three youths stripped to the waist slapping, punching and kicking a boy on the head, body and legs.

Then one throws a brick at the victim, striking him on the head. After he collapses, they urinate on him.

On May 25, a 14-year-old boy surnamed Chang, who is said to have filmed and posted the clip online, went to police.

The next day, Guo handed himself in to police and Yang and Cheng were held in the neighboring Hebei Province.

Prosecutors said that Yang is also charged with stealing goods worth nearly 8,000 yuan (US$1,300) from a car in April, and that Cheng has been charged with arson in connection with a blaze in a market in January.

Prosecutors suggested that police should place Cheng and Guo in a detention house for educating.

 

[Mandzukic]

Outdated security, slack management blamed for jailbreak

Xinhua, November 5, 2014

The Ministry of Justice has blamed an attempted escape by two prisoners on an obsolete security system and slack management, and urged other prisons to learn from the incident.

Saturday's prison break stunt saw one of the inmates from Beijiang Prison in south China's Guangdong Province knocked down by electric wire netting and recaptured after attempting to scale the prison wall, while another escaped but was arrested nearby the next day.

"Facilities at Beijiang Prison are rather outdated... and it's one of the units that hasn't completed an information upgrade of its security system. Surely, there are also issues in its inner management," Zhang Sujun, vice minister of justice, said Wednesday at a press conference.

Zhang revealed that only a 500-meter section of the prison's 1,700-meter-long wall met prison construction codes, without offering further details.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate has ordered Guangdong provincial prosecutors to investigate possible official misconduct behind the jailbreak. It is China's second such case in less than two months.

So far, two prison heads have been dismissed from their posts for the Saturday jailbreak, and the would-be escapees are under interrogation.

"The Beijiang Prison case deeply upset those of us working in the (legal) system," said Zhang. "A jailbreak is a breach of the authority of the law, and not a single case should be allowed."

The ministry has urged prisons nationwide to learn lessons from the incident and canvass their own units for potential security weaknesses.