Chapter 28 Chapter 26: The Trouble of Leading Cadres "Even Officials and Businesses"

If the law does not clearly delineate the boundaries and paths for power to intervene in the market, it will inevitably destroy the market order of fair competition, and further damage the wealth ethics of the entire society. In Xigang Village, Xushui Town, Zhongyuan District, Zhengzhou City, an affordable housing complex named "West Lake Autumn Rhyme" was newly built by Henan Tianrong Real Estate Co., Ltd. with a number of conjoined villas and a "building within a building" residential building with a duplex structure . On the evening of July 12, 2009, the Zhengzhou Municipal Government announced the investigation results and punishment decision of the incident.However, in the punishment decision, all the boards were placed on the developer, and the Zhengzhou City Planning Bureau, Land Bureau, Housing Management Bureau, Construction Committee and other government departments responsible for the incident directly responsible for the incident did not make any explanations.What is even more unacceptable to the public is that with the deepening of the media investigation, it was also found that the developer had a complicated background, and several relatives of party and government officials were shareholders, involving multiple power departments such as the municipal government, the Land Bureau, and the Public Security Bureau.

The reporter’s investigation found that although the central government explicitly prohibits leading cadres from doing business and concurrently being the boss, it is not difficult to see some party and government leading cadres’ mysterious behavior in the fields of property rights transactions of state-owned enterprises, social security fund management, land transfer, resource product development such as coal mines and real estate, and financial operations. figure. Relevant experts interviewed believe that the market economy must be based on fair, fair and transparent rules of the game; “If the law does not clearly delineate the boundaries and paths of power’s intervention in the market, it will inevitably make some leading cadres more and more in the quagmire of corruption. The deeper the trap, the more serious it is, it will destroy the market order of fair competition and damage the wealth ethics of the entire society.”

In recent years, the phenomenon of party and government leading cadres "being both officials and businessmen" has gradually increased, and most of them are "pulling out the carrots and bringing out the mud" because of other incidents. On June 2, 2009, Zhou Guangyu, the former director of the Construction Bureau of Daiyue District, Tai'an City, Shandong Province, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the court of first instance for various crimes including embezzlement, bribery, embezzlement of public funds, and abuse of power.After investigation, Zhou Guangyu's personal assets are tens of millions of yuan, and he owns 18 companies, involving real estate development, pawn, guarantee, pharmaceutical and other industries.It was not until Zhou Guangyu's other cases were discovered that his business affairs attracted public attention.

On April 25, 2009, Peng Cexin, the former director of the Xinkaipu Labor Camp in Hunan Province and the former director of the Hunan Switch Factory, was put on trial. The Changsha Xingcheng District Procuratorate accused him of accepting bribes.After investigation, Peng Cexin was a government official while doing business, and took advantage of his position to seek benefits for others in terms of infrastructure business arrangements and project fund allocations, accepting bribes amounting to RMB 2,174,700.Su Zhitian, the former director of the Guangxi Beiliu City Audit Bureau and the owner of his personal company; Wu Tianxi, former vice chairman of the County Political Consultative Conference, general manager of Jiasong Food Series Group Co., Ltd. in Zhenping County, and so on.

From the investigation, we learned that due to the central government's explicit prohibition, leading cadres of the party and government are relatively covert in their business operations. They secretly participate in shares or take part-time jobs, or register and operate in the name of their spouses or children, and they themselves manipulate behind the scenes as bosses. Industry, mining, entertainment, repair industry, agriculture, forestry and fishery and other industries. But what is puzzling is that in recent years, some leading cadres have gradually become more open in their business operations, and they have appeared in the form of government actions.For example, some companies have paid too much profits and taxes, and the local government has given them "official hats" to the business owners; some local governments have a strong dependence on a certain company's finances, so they simply assign a party and government leader to concurrently serve as the general manager or director long.

In June 2008, the document issued by the Organization Department of the Fugu County Party Committee in Shaanxi Province stated: "After research by the Standing Committee of the County Party Committee, it is proposed to hire four comrades, Gao Naize, Wang Nairong, Wang Wandong, and Liu Guomen, as assistants to the county magistrate of the county government (not out of production). "According to the data, these four "county magistrate assistants" are all well-known local "coal bosses". "These people are not only party and government leaders, but also business owners. They have two places to work, two sets of people to call, and they have two kinds of remuneration either explicitly or secretly." Professor Li Chengyan, a doctoral supervisor at the School of Government and Administration of Peking University In an interview with reporters, he pointed out, "This is a very worrying phenomenon, and relevant departments should realize the seriousness of this kind of power entering the market."

"A market economy should ensure that every investor has an equal competitive position and provide every investor with equal opportunities for development." Li Chengyan believes, "In a market economy, the role of the government is to formulate and implement trading rules and maintain the market. Order. If the leading cadres of the party and government are engaged in business, they will inevitably use their power to influence the government's decision-making, so as to seek the government to favor themselves in the allocation of resources." At present, some overlord clauses in business, monopoly and disguised monopoly of the market, and citizens being forced to buy certain designated products when receiving government public services, etc. There are signs that they are closely related to the "integration of government and business".

"Legislative party and government leaders to engage in business will lead to the corruption of using government to support business and money laundering through business." Professor Qi Shanhong, a doctoral supervisor at Nankai University, told reporters. They not only have the possibility of secretly manipulating and turning public power for private use to make money for themselves, but also may launder money for their other illegitimate income through enterprises." On April 26, 2009, a fire broke out in Jinhua, Zhejiang, burning out a villa worth 4 million yuan owned by Yu Liujiang, director of Dongyang Public Security Bureau.The official response stated that the money to buy the villa came from his wife’s business operations.Due to Yu Liujiang's special status, such an explanation cannot dispel all kinds of doubts in the hearts of the public.

It is also extremely easy for leading cadres to form a "community of interests between officials and businessmen" when they do business, which leads to a great compromise in the implementation of certain central decisions.For example, in recent years, many leading cadres who have invested in mines have secretly resisted and interfered with the investigation and punishment of illegal mines. “In a market economy, party and government leaders, as public service and order maintainers, should abide by their responsibilities, abide by the boundaries of power granted by law, and abide by the market behavior of power ethics. This is the basic concept of modern democratic politics.” Yin Yungong, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in an interview with reporters.

As early as 1984, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Decision on Strictly Prohibiting Party and Government Organs and Party and Government Officials from Operating Businesses", emphasizing the principle of "adhering to the separation of responsibilities between government and enterprises, and the separation of government and business." In recent years, similar documents or related laws and regulations have been promulgated. Why is the phenomenon of party and government leaders "being both officials and businessmen" repeatedly banned?Many interviewed experts believe that, in addition to profit-driven, the lack of stability of the system, conflicting laws and regulations, inadequate supervision, weak punishment and other disadvantages, leading cadres to do business has become a normal state under the "law does not blame the public".

"In terms of system, it is nothing more than the fact that leading cadres are doing business extensively, and they only apply some strong medicine, and the implementation of these regulations lacks stability." Li Chengyan believes that "although the central and local governments have formulated a large number of rules prohibiting civil servants from doing business and taking part-time jobs in recent years, However, most of the content is overlapping, even somewhat inconsistent, and it has not really played a role in restraining the behavior patterns of leading cadres." According to the reporter's understanding, there are many ambiguities in the regulations prohibiting leading cadres and their relatives from doing business.For example, regarding the level of leading cadres, it is sometimes stipulated that relatives of leading cadres above the bureau level cannot do so, and sometimes it is stipulated at the county and department level.At the same time, there is no clear definition of the scope of relatives, even if the definition is very narrow, it only refers to immediate family members and spouses. "Leading cadres' business operations cannot be effectively controlled, which is also related to the fact that the government has many branches." Yin Yungong pointed out, "In order to develop the market economy and the private economy, some local governments have formulated policies that are 'flexible' with the relevant policies of the central government. Whether to prohibit or allow On the issue of business or part-time employment of party and government leaders, the central and local policies lack consistency, leaving the public at a loss.” The reporter's investigation found that the cost of leading cadres to do business illegally is too low, which is also an important reason for repeated prohibitions.In reality, even if the leading cadres of the party and government are engaged in business, as long as they are not found to have corruption, bribery, power for personal gain, etc., they generally only criticize and educate them and urge them to make corrections.Because of the lack of a clear policy basis, the handling of the interests it has gained often has to "let the past go." Professor Ying Songnian of the Law Teaching and Research Department of the National School of Administration believes: "There are many reasons for leading cadres to do business. Insufficient coordination and cooperation between the taxation department and the industry and commerce department, and the unsound assessment system for leading cadres are related.” "There is no sound verification mechanism for whether leading cadres are engaged in business, and there is still a lack of deterrent punishment measures for those who falsify and conceal themselves." Qi Shanhong believes that under such circumstances, many regulations are useless, so that in " Under the "unspoken rules", an embarrassing situation has been formed where the law does not blame the public. In the opinion of the interviewed experts, politicians must comply with the regulations when "going to the sea", and similarly, there must be clear norms for businessmen to become officials.The basic rule is that an official is an official, a business is a business, and the two cannot have both. "A dragnet-type investigation will be carried out on the business situation of leading cadres and their relatives. Corruption will be firmly investigated and dealt with. Those who have business practices that have not been seriously corrupted should be asked to leave their official positions or be stripped of businessmen within a time limit while taking disciplinary action. Identity. If the business owner wants to enter politics, he should completely 'separate' from the past business, and register the property and company status." Yin Yungong said. "It is necessary to elevate the business regulation of party and government leading cadres to the legal level, and formulate prohibitive and restrictive regulations on current and former leading cadres' business operations. Du Liyuan, a lawyer from the law firm, suggested, "We should also implement a property declaration system for leading cadres and establish a strict verification and punishment mechanism. Those who need to declare and fail to declare truthfully should be given party discipline and government discipline sanctions; those suspected of committing a crime must be investigated for criminal responsibility. For The illegal benefits obtained by them should be confiscated in accordance with relevant regulations." It is understood that in many developed countries, laws do not prohibit civil servants from resigning or starting businesses after retirement, but they have stipulated corresponding exceptions and corresponding restrictive measures.For example, the first paragraph of Article 103 of Japan's "National Civil Servant Law" stipulates: "Employees shall not concurrently serve as the person in charge, consultant or reviewer of commercial, industrial, financial and other profit-oriented private enterprises and other organizations, nor shall they Self-run for-profit enterprises." The second paragraph stipulates: "Employees shall not accept or hold positions closely related to state organs in for-profit enterprises within two years after resignation." The Swiss "Federal Civil Servant Law" stipulates that civil servants are not allowed to concurrently operate Sideline business and industry and commerce, and their family members are not allowed to open restaurants, cafes, etc. The General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council issued the "Interim Regulations on the Implementation of Accountability of Party and Government Leading Cadres" on July 12, 2009. regulations and implementation methods. Many interviewed experts believe that under the current circumstances, units or systems that fail to supervise leading cadres in business operations can correspond to multiple accountability clauses, and strictly hold the "top leaders" of the unit or system accountable.While strengthening internal supervision, we should further broaden the supervision channels for leading cadres, such as improving the tax system, giving full play to the supervisory role of various media, and paying attention to reports from the masses. "Because it is common for leading cadres to set up enterprises in the name of their relatives, we should especially supervise the employment of the family members of leading cadres. The focus is on those family members of leading cadres who work in approval and supervisory positions." Li Chengyan said, "Leading cadres must be further strengthened. In the employment declaration system for family members, someone must repeatedly carefully screen and approve the declared content, and when necessary, remind the parties concerned in a timely manner and order corrections until they are dealt with seriously." Relevant experts also suggested that leading cadres working in high-risk departments such as land, financial and securities supervision departments, and planning should have clear "forbidden areas" for their spouses and children's scope of work, such as prohibiting entry into the securities and financial industry and prohibiting engaging in real estate development. , Engineering construction, etc.