Scandal of Linxiang mayor found naked and high on Ice highlights drug addiction among cadres
Case of city chief found naked and high on Ice is part of a growing problem of addiction and corruption among party cadres, say ex-officials
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 10 May, 2015, 7:09am
UPDATED : Sunday, 10 May, 2015, 7:09am
Mimi Lau in Guangzhou [email protected]
Customs official in Humen, Guangdong province, burn packages containing heroin seized following a crackdown there. Photo: Xinhua
When police caught up with rising political star Gong Weiguo last month, he was allegedly naked and high on the drug Ice.
The last public appearance of the mayor of Linxiang a city of just over half a million people in Hunan province, had been on April 7.
A week later, Gong, 43, was admitted to a Guangzhou hospital, suffering from depression, according to The Beijing News. Within days, police had launched an investigation into his suspected drug-taking, and by April 21 he had been removed from office.
Jiang Zongfu, a former deputy mayor of Linxiang, said on his personal microblog that he was extremely saddened for the city. "[Gong] is simply a hooligan, a drug addict," he wrote. "When the vice squad arrived, he was completely naked."
The scandal triggered public dismay at yet more apparent corruption within a top office, but it also highlighted the problem of drug abuse among cadres - experts say job pressure and a lack of oversight is fostering a legion of drug-addled grass-roots officials.
About a year ago, the problem had become so great that state news agency Xinhua published an article labelling drug abuse among officials as "hurting, painful and disgusting".
The same article said drug abuse was usually linked to corruption cases, in which officials either received drugs as a bribe or had easy access to them through their ties with law enforcement. Others used the money obtained through corruption.
It added that officials found to have a history of drug abuse and corruption would also often engage into promiscuous relationships with women.
The official media trail of these kinds of cases goes back to 2008, when an unnamed tax official in Xiong county, Hebei province, was arrested for drug abuse. The following year, Chai Siqing, deputy party secretary of Shanxi province's Yantou township, also fell from grace over drugs.
Then, in 2011, Yang Hongwei, former head of Chuxiong, in Yunnan province, was sacked for taking more than 10 million yuan (HK$12.6 million) in bribes. During his case, Yang was accused of being addicted to ku ka, a mix of opium and a local plant, commonly found on China's border with Myanmar.
Fast forward to November, 2014, and Yunnan's anti-graft watchdog announced that 41 officials from Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture in the west of the province had been stripped of their Communist Party memberships for similar offences.
"None of these officials was forced to do drugs. The officials did it voluntarily and gradually developed a habit," Xinhua quoted an Anhui drug rehabilitation official as saying.
There are no official numbers on drug-addicted cadres, but a criminal lawyer specialising in drug cases said the problem was serious.
"The number of officials doing drugs could be potentially huge, more than we could imagine. There aren't many people in China who can afford drugs on a long-term basis - a gram of Ice costs 800 yuan in Beijing and about 400 yuan in Guangzhou," the lawyer said.
"With more money than they need and without faith or religion, some officials seek relief [from work pressures] in drugs."
According to Yang Bin, a former Guangzhou prosecutor who heads Tianxiang Compassion, a non-government organisation that helps criminals, much of the pressure comes from having to constantly bow to superiors.
"They are forced to act like dogs in front of their superiors and are not allowed to speak their mind. It twists their heart and soul," Yang said.
Yang said it was common for officials to resort to excesses as a way to alleviate the pressure.
"I heard that one Guangzhou official would often take Russian sex workers to a resort in Huadu [district]. It seems luxury, money and women were not enough to satisfy their twisted souls - it was all within easy reach for them," she said.
"No matter how tough the anti-graft campaign, Chinese officialdom will not improve as a whole unless the Communist Party ends its adherence to formalism," she said, referring to the party's fostering of a controlled, insincere form of behaviour commonly found among cadres
One former Hunan official told the Sunday Morning Post it was not uncommon to find drug addicts among officials, especially at the lower levels.
"This is a topic that is rarely discussed even among officials and usually swept under the rug," the official said. Drugs had emerged as a new enticement that people offered as bribes to cadres, the official said.
"I understand that drug abuse is more prevalent among grass-roots officials. Some even skip work to do drugs because oversight is lax and anti-drug efforts inadequate in rural townships."
___________________________________________________________________
Official reports of Chinese officials detained on suspicion of drug use
2008
A former tax division chief in Xiong county, in Hebei province is held for drug use.
2009
Chai Siqing, former deputy party secretary of Yantou township, in Shanxi province, is arrested for drug abuse. Later he is sacked and stripped of his party membership.
2011
Yang Hongwei, the former head of Chuxiong, in Yunnan province, is placed under investigation for corruption in May 2011. At his trial that December he is accused of being addicted to ku ka - a mix of opium and a local plant for more than a year. He is jailed for life in February 2013 for taking bribes of more than 10 million yuan (HK12.6 million).
2014
Two officials are placed under an investigation: one is a former deputy director of Susong county investment promotion bureau, in Anhui province, the other a former deputy director of the county's transport management bureau. Both are found to have used narcotics on three occasions. They are sacked and stripped of their party membership.
April 2015
Gong Weiguo, the former mayor of Linxiang, in Hunan province, is alleged to have been addicted to the drug Ice for at least two years. He checks himself into a hospital in Guangzhou for depression on April 14. He is removed from his post on April 22.
