Chapter 67 The watershed of macro-control

Tieben tragically became the "flag worshiper" of the macro-control in 2004, but it was accidentally triggered by the problem of illegal land use. In early February, several Xinhua News Agency reporters conducted research in Jiangsu. The topic of their research was the land occupation of golf courses and university towns in various places.During an interview in Nanjing, an expert accidentally said: "There is a company in Changzhou that builds a steel plant by the Yangtze River." The speaker was unintentional, but the listener was interested. The reporters intuitively believed that building a steel plant must require a lot of land. There may also be an issue of illegal land occupation.They called the Ministry of Land and Resources and got a reply that the Ministry was not aware of the project.So, the reporters turned to Changzhou and found the steel factory site along the river. On February 9, an internal reference material titled "3,000 mu of land was used before it was expropriated, and the environmental protection review was not approved before it was approved" was handed over to the central high-level.Soon after, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Land and Resources and the State Environmental Protection Administration sent investigation teams to Changzhou.

In the context of macro-control, the issue of Tieben quickly changed from destroying land and occupying land to illegal construction.Dai Guofang, who was in the vortex of the incident, became restless.He himself didn't know how things could get worse and worse, and he was running around the construction site all day in those days.According to his budget, by the end of May, the first blast furnace in the steel plant will be completed and put into production immediately.He said to his subordinates: "Such a large project is completed as soon as it is completed. At most, it will be fined, and it is impossible to tear it down." However, the situation is far more serious than he imagined.Since the announcement of the State Council in December last year, the investment in heavy chemical industry projects in various places has not shown any cooling trend.According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the country's fixed asset investment in the first quarter still increased by 43% year-on-year, the highest growth rate since the mid-1990s, and the investment in the steel industry increased by an astonishing 107%.At this time, the Tieben project, which has many major suspicions such as illegal land occupation and illegal construction, jumped onto the stage, and undoubtedly became the most suitable and typical punishment target.

In the face of a massive investigation, Dai Guofang, who had never dealt with a big scene before, was in chaos.He and his counselors "naively" believed that the iron issue might be settled with money.Therefore, he submitted a "self-inspection report" to his superiors, which stated: "When our company accepted the investigation of illegal investment and illegal land use by the relevant state departments, we conducted a self-financial inspection and found illegal problems in the operation process- ——Since the establishment of the company in 2000, our company has purchased more than one billion yuan worth of scrap steel from Changzhou Material Recycling Company and Wujin Material Recycling Co., Ltd., including nearly 200 million yuan in false invoices and nearly 20 million yuan in tax deductions... Statutory The representative, Dai Guofang, is negligent in management and should bear relevant responsibilities." This self-inspection report for "spending money to eliminate disasters" is Dai Guofang's last effort to save Tieben. Local IRS.To his surprise, it was this self-examination report that became the most powerful evidence for the prosecution two years later.

On March 20, Changzhou City, which was under great pressure, formed a leading group for the clean-up work of the Tieben Project and issued an emergency shutdown order.At the end of the month, the leaders of the State Council arrived in Jiangsu, and the party secretary and mayor of Changzhou City were summoned to report on the Tieben project and the problems it caused. In early April, a special inspection team composed of nine ministries and commissions rushed to Changzhou to conduct a comprehensive inspection of the iron project.This is the second time since the Liushi incident in 1990, the nine ministries and commissions of the central government have conducted an unprecedented joint action on a local project. On the 19th, Dai Guofang, his wife, father-in-law and other 10 people were taken away by the police for "suspected tax evasion, and the number may be huge".

On April 28, nine ministries and commissions reported the investigation to Premier Wen Jiabao at the executive meeting of the State Council. They characterized it as: "This is a typical major case of serious dereliction of duty and violation of regulations by local governments and relevant departments, and enterprises suspected of illegal crimes." The next day , Xinhua News Agency broadcast a press release to the whole country, listing the five major problems identified by the joint investigation team: ——The local government and relevant departments seriously violated the relevant laws and regulations of the state, and exceeded their authority to split up and approve projects with an investment of up to 10.59 billion yuan for 22 times;

—— 6,541 mu of land was requisitioned in violation of regulations, and land requisition and demolition were organized in violation of regulations; ——Tiebang defrauded bank credit and loans by providing false financial statements, and misappropriated more than 2 billion yuan of bank working capital loans for fixed asset investment; ——Relevant financial institutions have seriously violated the national fixed asset loan approval and cash management regulations; ——The iron company evaded a large number of taxes. The administrative handling of the Tieben incident was also unprecedented, and eight government officials and bank officials were severely punished.Among them, Fan Yanqing, secretary of the Changzhou Municipal Party Committee, was sentenced to a serious warning within the party; Gu Heilang, deputy director of the Changzhou Municipal People's Congress, was dismissed and given a sanction of party probation; Huan Xiangbao, secretary of the Yangzhong Municipal Party Committee, was dismissed; Wang Mingxiang, deputy director of the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Land and Resources, Qin Yanjiang, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, and Wang Jianguo, president of the Changzhou branch of the Bank of China, were dismissed or ordered to resign.

Dai Guofang's family property of 80,000 yuan was seized. The iron company was dealt with in a high-profile manner, which was a symbolic event of macro-control in 2004. "People's Daily" pointed out in an editorial entitled "Resolutely Maintain the Smoothness of Macro-control Regulations": "The State Council ordered Jiangsu Province and relevant departments to deal with the relevant responsible persons involved in this case. An important measure for the smooth flow of government orders." This editorial fully revealed the typical role of Tieben in this macro-control.The Tieben incident is considered a watershed in the current round of regulation.Prior to this, the central government had been trying to control overheating investment through monetary policy adjustments. However, when the results were not obvious, the government resolutely changed the strings and forcibly increased the intensity of administrative regulation.Since then, the investment projects of many private enterprises in steel, electrolytic aluminum and cement industries have been stranded. The Jianlong project of Guo Guangchang of Shanghai Fosun Group and the Sanmenxia electrolytic aluminum project of Liu Yongxing of Sichuan Hope Group have been ordered to suspend.