Chapter 9 The insatiable "big rat" in the army

On June 29, 2006, Xinhua News Agency released a major news: Wang Shouye, the former deputy commander of the navy, had been dismissed from his position as deputy commander of the navy because of alleged economic crimes.The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress announced on the 29th that in accordance with the provisions of the Representative Law, Wang Shouye's qualification as a representative was terminated.According to reports, the Central Military Commission has removed him from the position of deputy commander of the navy because of "corruption of morality", "use of power to solicit and accept bribes", and "suspected of serious violations of discipline and law".

With the deepening of our country's anti-corruption struggle, it is not news that provincial and ministerial officials have been sacked due to corruption. Even national leaders, such as Cheng Kejie and Chen Liangyu, have gradually come into people's attention.However, these are local cadres. In comparison, there are not many accidents involving senior generals in the army.Before, we only heard that one or two major generals were dismissed due to corruption.Therefore, the fall of Wang this time, because of the highest military rank and the largest amount involved in the case, deservedly became the "most corrupt" of our army, and has attracted the attention of all sectors of society.

Wang Shouye was born in Miaoli Village, Dengli Township, Ye County, Henan Province in 1943.Ye County is 145 kilometers away from Zhengzhou, the provincial capital. It is adjacent to Wugang in the east, Mount Lu in the west, Fangcheng in the south, and Pingdingshan in the north.In Ye County, Wang Shouye, who holds the rank of lieutenant general, is a celebrity.Although he has been away from home for decades, the people of Ye County are obviously very familiar with him, because he has long been the pride of the people of the county. Wang Shouye's influence on his hometown even made a very beautiful road appear in the village, and it directly leads from the Nanping Expressway to the gate of Wang Shouye's house.The concrete road in the village is two kilometers long and five meters wide, and it was built entirely because of the four brothers of the Wang family.Because, except for the county seat, there are very few cement roads in Ye County.

Not only is Wang Shouye the biggest foreign official, but his other three brothers also have a certain status in their hometown.In addition to the eldest son Wang Shouye, the second Wang Suian is currently the branch secretary of Miaoli Village; the third Wang Shouyin works in the County Transportation Bureau; the fourth Wang Xinye works as a policeman in the neighboring township police station.Undoubtedly, these four brothers made the Wang family the most prominent family in the area. According to reports, although Wang Shouye was born in a poor peasant family, he has excellent grades due to his talent and hard work. In 1964, 21-year-old Wang Shouye was admitted to Tianjin University with the sixth place in the Henan Provincial College Entrance Examination, where he majored in industrial and civil construction.It was this profession that became more and more "popular" later, which brought endless wealth and extremely high power status to the king, and also brought the ultimate disaster.

In 1968, the General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army selected outstanding graduates from some colleges and universities to join the army, and Wang Shouye entered the 38th Army of the Army.Among them, from September 1968 to September 1989, he first served as a soldier in the 336th Regiment of the 112th Division of the 38th Army. Deputy Director of the Barracks Management Division of the Post-Infrastructure Barracks Department. In September 1989, he served as the director of the Barracks Administration Bureau of the General Logistics Department's Infrastructure and Barracks Department; in July 1993, he served as the Deputy Director of the General Logistics Department's Infrastructure and Barracks Department; in July 1994, he was promoted to the rank of major general; In July 2001, he was appointed as the deputy commander of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy; in July 2002, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general of the navy.Among the seven core members of the Naval Command, the commander and political commissar are all generals; of the remaining five deputy commanders, three are lieutenant generals and two are major generals.Wang Shouye ranked second among the five deputy commanders, with the rank of lieutenant general.

For many years, Tianjin University, his alma mater, has been proud of having trained Wang Shouye. When he was promoted to deputy commander of the navy in August 2001, Tianjin University sent a congratulatory letter to the alumnus to express his congratulations.On the school’s website, there is a comment like this: “During his 32-year military career, he studied politics, military affairs, and business assiduously with a heart of devotion to national defense, serving the motherland, and winning glory for his alma mater. Strict training and testing in terms of thinking and style, selfless and creative work, outstanding performance, and made great contributions to the development of our army's logistics infrastructure and barracks."

And Wang Shouye himself was not modest when he was interviewed by a reporter from Tianjin University's school newspaper, and even boasted a little.When a reporter from the school newspaper asked about "the most proud and gratifying thing in my life", Wang Shouye, then deputy commander of the Navy, said proudly: "The United States has a 'Pentagon', and China has an 'August 1st Building'. Participated in the construction of the Central Military Commission's Bayi Building; the United States has a Hawaii, and China has a Yalong Bay, and I organized and led the construction of Yalong Bay."

Not only Tianjin University is proud of Wang Shouye, but also Wang Shouye's parents, Wang Shunqian and his wife.In front of the shrine in the living room of the Wang family, there are two huge family portraits.In one of them, Wang Shunqian and his wife are in the front row, and Wang Shouye and his wife are in the middle in the back row, with one son and two daughters on both sides.Another photo was taken in front of a luxury villa.In the bedroom, there are also family portraits of Wang Shunqian and Wang Shouye's two generations, but there are no photos of other brothers and family members.It can be seen that the Wang family also feels honored by the status of the eldest son.

Although the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection has the power to investigate and deal with violations of laws and disciplines by party members across the country, especially centrally managed cadres, military party members are not under the jurisdiction of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.Like the procuratorate and the courts, the military has also independently established a discipline inspection committee, and has branches in the General Political Department, the Navy, the Air Force, and the seven major military regions and provincial military regions. On December 23, 2005, Wang Shouye was "double-guided" by the Disciplinary Committee of the Central Military Commission, that is, to "explain the problem at a specified time and place";Since Wang Shouye is a deputy to the National People's Congress of the military, his qualification as a deputy to the National People's Congress must first be terminated in order to arrest him. Therefore, it was only in June 2006 that it was publicly reported that Wang Shouye's qualification as a deputy to the National People's Congress was terminated.This is just a prelude to his official arrest, so media reports that Wang Shouye had been sentenced to death with a reprieve before this did not comply with normal procedures and legal regulations.

It is reported that although Wang Shouye's last position was the deputy commander of the navy, the investigation of his violations of law and discipline did not focus on his appointment as the deputy commander, but on his previous position as the infrastructure and barracks department of the General Logistics Department from 1995 to 2001. Minister and Director of the Office of the Military Housing Reform Leading Group.As he himself said later, although the deputy commander of the Navy is much older, the real power and funds in his hands are far inferior to that of the Minister of Infrastructure and Barracks he served before.

Indeed, Wang Shouye's position as Minister of Infrastructure and Barracks was a platform for him to earn enough money, and it was also the beginning of his tragedy. After graduating from university, Wang Shouye came to Baoding City, once the capital of Hebei Province, because the military selected high-achieving students, and served in the 38th Army of the Army, which is now the 38th Group Army. The 38th Army is a prestigious army unit, not only because it was adapted from the Red Army system, but also made outstanding achievements on the Korean battlefield. Peng Dehuai called it "Long Live the 38th Army" and "Long Live Army".At the beginning of his return to China, he was stationed in the Northeast, and transferred to Baoding, Hebei in 1966, under the Beijing Military Region.Wang Shouye, who graduated from the Civil and Architectural Engineering Department of Tianjin University, entered the 38th Army and was mainly engaged in barracks construction, which is what we usually call engineers. Like many corrupt officials, at the beginning of their work, they were diligent and diligent, giving people a positive impression.The same is true of Wang Shouye, and his behavior is also very disciplined, without the habit of being greedy for petty gain.Different from other soldiers, Wang Shouye has a high degree of education, a good major, and a flexible mind. More importantly, he often runs to the Beijing Military Region, where the headquarters of the army is located.Soon, he came out with results. Due to the scarcity of majors, the Beijing Military Region really needed people. Therefore, Wang Shouye transferred from Baoding to Beijing to work in the Infrastructure and Barracks Department of the Beijing Military Region's Logistics Department.Wang Shouye became famous and experienced. Soon, he made new developments and was transferred to work in the infrastructure and barracks department of the General Logistics Department of the People's Liberation Army.At the same time, his position was constantly changing, from secretary to assistant, engineer, and then from director to deputy director and director. Military intellectuals like Wang Shouye, as long as they work hard and have certain qualifications, it is not difficult to become a school officer.But if you want to be a general, you don't just need talent. You can't do it without certain opportunities and the appreciation of important people.The current military ranks of PLA officers are three grades and ten grades, namely second lieutenant, lieutenant, and captain; major, lieutenant colonel, colonel, and senior colonel; major general, lieutenant general, and general.Calculated according to the "promotion every four years" rule, it usually takes more than 20 years for a second lieutenant to be promoted to a colonel, and from a colonel to a general is the most difficult threshold to cross.By 1995, Wang Shouye was the Minister of the Infrastructure and Barracks Department of the General Logistics Department, with the rank of major general.Some people jokingly said that Wang Shouye rose quickly in the army, and he was like "driving up a helicopter".However, this statement is biased, because Wang Shouye was 52 years old when he was promoted to major general. Such an age is not uncommon among major generals in our army. In 2001, Wang Shouye, who was about to retire in his sixties, was appointed by the Central Military Commission as the second deputy commander of the navy, in charge of logistics work, and was promoted from major general to lieutenant general. So, since he was already facing retirement, why was he suddenly appointed as the deputy commander of the navy?Is it because Wang Shouye has outstanding political achievements and outstanding talents, and the army construction cannot be done without him?In fact, before Wang Shouye became the Minister of Infrastructure and Barracks in 1995, people kept reporting that he used his power for personal gain and took bribes by taking advantage of his power in infrastructure construction.But to the disappointment of those whistleblowers, the stronger the whistleblowing, the faster he was promoted, and finally became the deputy commander of the lieutenant general, a dazzling star among the millions of troops. From 1995 to 2001, Wang Shouye was in charge of the transformation of the third-generation barracks of the entire army. Due to the huge funds, he faced a greater risk of corruption.At the same time, the military housing reform policy also gave him loopholes for corruption.It was at this time that the army followed suit and started the military housing reform project.The core of this housing reform is to establish a housing subsidy system and implement the monetization of housing distribution.Wang Shouye once said in an interview with the "Liberation Army Daily" that if the entire army paid out all the housing subsidies in 1999, the one-time use of funds would be tens of billions.Since the above-mentioned subsidies cover more than 70% of the personnel and 90% of the areas in the entire army, Wang Shouye should have relatively large deployment rights. Of course, the payment of housing subsidies to military officers and soldiers is relatively transparent, and the possibility of reaping benefits from them is small.In contrast, due to the needs of the military’s housing reform, a large number of military buildings have continued to be built. For example, a considerable proportion of military garrisons located in the prosperous areas of provincial capitals choose to replace the original land and build new barracks.The resulting market transaction funds amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars. Although the bidding system is adopted for public buildings all over the country, the bidding system for the army is relatively loose. Sometimes it will be conducted by invitation or negotiation for reasons involving military secrets or armaments. To a large extent, it is still done by The leader has the final say on the way of awarding contracts.Therefore, it is not surprising that Wang Shouye became the target of many construction contractors, and became a prisoner of sugar-coated bullets, money and beauty. According to preliminary investigations, the amount of money involved by Wang Shouye has reached hundreds of millions of yuan, and the relevant details are still under further investigation and verification. Women can play a special role in corruption and anti-corruption, and the Wang Shouye case is a typical example. Some women can lie down gently in front of men for money and status, but they are not gentle when they stand up to ask for it, so there is a saying: "If you lie down, you are a sheep, but if you stand up, you are a wolf." Wang Shouye, who has money and power, has taken care of many mistresses more than ten years ago, enjoying all the romance in the world.But no matter what, he would never have imagined that more than ten years later, he would fall under the gentle gun of a woman and be bitten to death by the "wolf" transformed from the "sheep". A person from the Military Commission for Discipline Inspection said that Wang Shouye's economic problems stemmed from internal reports.In fact, this so-called internal, apart from a large number of letters and reports (but not taken seriously), is mainly the direct petition reports of his mistress Jiang and others. Wang Shouye, the 63-year-old deputy commander of the navy, was supposed to step down normally in June 2006, but he failed to wait for this day.As early as March, Wang Shouye was absent from the national "two sessions".The news about Wang's "investigation" has spread from the military circles at the end of the year and the beginning of the year.The reason why this case has attracted much attention is that he is the highest-ranking military officer investigated since the founding of New China. In terms of economic issues, apart from Wang Shouye, some of his relatives and friends were also involved.Wang is in charge of infrastructure projects, so Wang's wife also works for a construction-related company and also serves as the general manager.It is reported that the relationship between their husband and wife has been at odds for a long time, his wife has already separated from him, and their two daughters have also emigrated overseas. Although Wang Shouye has a taste of being separated from his wife and children, we can still see that his family is economically superior. In addition, Wang Shouye's relatives and friends also registered a real estate company in Zhengzhou, borrowing Wang's network to make money.In May, the company was embroiled in an investigation that involved the seizure of at least two luxury cars.From the perspective of time, this coincides with the time when the military procuratorate intervened in Wang Shouye's case.It is reported that several contractors from Henan who are related to Wang himself are also under investigation. What is even more surprising is not the economic issue. As the Xinhua News Agency reported, Wang Shouye's "moral corruption" and the plot are somewhat bizarre. Wang Shouye had many mistresses, among whom Jiang was the one who was relatively constant and had the longest time.Jiang was originally an actor in an art troupe in a certain military region, and after being spotted by Wang Shouye, they hooked up together.Relying on his powerful position as the Minister of Infrastructure and Construction, Wang easily transferred her to Beijing, where she was taken care of and lived as an underground couple.Jiang, who was in his twenties then and is now in his thirties, also gave birth to a son for Wang Shouye, which made Wang Shouye very happy. In 2001, after Wang Shouye was promoted to Vice Admiral and Deputy Commander of the Navy, Jiang proposed to marry Wang, but Wang refused.Therefore, Jiang proposed to break up and choose another husband to marry, otherwise he would become a yellow-faced woman if he dragged on, delaying his youth and regretting his whole life.Wang Shouye also agreed to break up, but he was most interested in the son he had with Jiang, so he proposed to give the son to him to raise.Jiang said that she could transfer her son's custody rights, but she must be given 5 million yuan in youth loss fees.Of course, Wang Shouye did not agree. The two had been bargaining for several years, but they could not reach an agreement.In desperation, Jiang decided to report Wang Shouye's scandal to the leadership of the Central Military Commission.At first, Wang Shouye took Jiang's words as a threat, but he didn't expect her to press her every step of the way, and she took action, finally revealing the secrets that had been hidden for many years. So far, several women who have been involved with Wang Shouye have all been investigated.Among them, Jiang was closely investigated because he was the most involved in the case.Back then, after Jiang was transferred to Beijing, Wang Shouye had already spent a lot of money on her, buying real estate, a car, and other assets for her.Now, even though Jiang is the whistleblower in the Wang Shouye case, most of her real estate, cars and other assets were purchased with money obtained from Wang Shouye's embezzlement, so it is only natural that she will be detained by the Disciplinary Committee of the Military Commission. It can be said that Wang Shouye and Jiang X are best described as "death and death".Wang Shouye's reputation was ruined, and her people and money were depleted; and Jiang's assets due to her close relationship with high-ranking officials will be turned over to the army, which is also a heavy blow to her. In recent years, the army, like the local government, has seen corrupt officials appear frequently.However, this is the first time that a lieutenant-level "shuo rat" like Wang Shouye has been discovered.What is even more surprising is that when national defense funds were in short supply, Wang Shouye used his power for personal gain and enriched his own pockets with military construction funds, which is really abhorrent. Prior to this, there were rumors that Wang Shouye committed suicide at the beginning of the investigation, and that relevant departments seized tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of yuan in cash from two residences in Beijing and Nanjing during the investigation.Although some are not true, the huge amount of money involved in Wang Shouye's case is indeed shocking.Therefore, we have to worry about the safety of military construction funds and even national defense funds. Not long ago, when talking about Wang Shouye’s case, Liao Xilong, head of the General Logistics Department, pointed out that there is still a lot of room for improvement in logistics management. He said: “For example, the investment of some funds and materials is not scientific enough; There is still a lot of randomness in the approval of money and materials; there is no strict compliance with the regulations in material procurement, project bidding, fund management, and real estate lease transfer; Among the measures to strengthen supervision and management, an important one is audit supervision. The establishment of a special auditing system in our military began in 1985, only two years after the establishment of the National Audit Office in 1983.When it was first established, it was called the Audit Bureau of the Central Military Commission, and audit bureaus were also established in major military regions. In the early 1990s, the Audit Bureau of the Central Military Commission was changed to the Audit Office of the People's Liberation Army, established in the Military Commission, and managed by the General Logistics Department. At the end of 2004, with the approval of the Central Military Commission, the General Staff Headquarters, General Political Department, General Logistics Department, and General Armament Department of the PLA jointly promulgated the "Regulations on Auditing the Economic Responsibility of Military Leading Cadres."Leading cadres with economic responsibilities in units above the regiment level and government departments in the army must be audited in accordance with regulations. On July 20, 2005, with the approval of the Central Military Commission, the Leading Group for the Audit of Economic Responsibility of Leading Cadres of the Army was established in Beijing. Department, General Logistics Department, General Armament Department).The leading group will comprehensively guide the audit work of the military's leading cadres' economic responsibilities, focusing on strengthening the supervision of leading cadres at all levels. General Liao Xilong said that leading cadres at all levels in the military, especially middle and senior leading cadres, have more and more economic power. Military resources, prevention and control of corruption from the mechanism and source have become a major issue in the construction of our party and our army.” It is reported that in the next five years, the entire army will audit more than 4,000 leading cadres, including no less than 100 military leaders.According to Liao Xilong, this year plans to audit 983 leading cadres at all levels, including 26 military officers, 135 division staff, and 822 regiment staff.As of the end of June, the entire army has audited the performance of economic responsibilities by 639 leading cadres above the regiment level, and according to the audit results, relevant personnel have been promoted, demoted, dismissed, and legally held accountable. According to public information from the General Logistics Department, the military has implemented budget system reforms and strengthened audit supervision. A total of 77,000 audit units and projects have achieved direct economic benefits of 6.8 billion yuan. At the same time, on the eve of the national "two sessions" in March 2006, the Central Military Commission issued the "Implementation Opinions on Establishing and Improving the Military Punishment and Prevention of Corruption System", which included anti-corruption in the military's "Eleventh Five-Year Plan". (Text/Gao Fu) People from all walks of life believe that our military's strengthening of the economic responsibility audit work of leading cadres at all levels will definitely promote the development and construction of the military, thereby better safeguarding national security. Through the investigation and handling of some major and important cases, sum up experience, learn lessons, draw inferences from one instance, establish rules and regulations, and play the fundamental role of investigation. This is exactly what the investigation and handling of cases should do.Therefore, we believe that with the continuous deepening of the anti-corruption struggle, the construction of party conduct and discipline in the military will surely reach a new level, and our military and national defense will be truly impregnable.