Chapter 21 The crime of the hero of the "tobacco kingdom"

On June 20, 2006, Wei Jian, the deputy manager of the Yunnan Tobacco Company who was the director of the Qujing Cigarette Factory, was sentenced to 15 years in prison by the Intermediate People's Court of Deyang City, Sichuan Province for accepting bribes. Wei Jian, 53 years old, is in Yunnan, which is known as the "Tobacco Kingdom". After Chen Chuanbai, the former director of the Kunming Cigarette Factory, fled on suspicion of corruption, and Chu Shijian, the former director of the Yuxi Cigarette Factory, was sentenced for corruption. Director of three cigarette factories.Therefore, he was sentenced for accepting bribes, which attracted special attention.

Yunnan Province, located in the southwestern border of the motherland, integrates frontiers, ethnic groups, and mountainous areas. It has a wide range of poverty and an underdeveloped economy. At present, there are still 6 million people living below the poverty line.Yunnan's economic structure is relatively simple. The tobacco industry, which has huge profits, has always been the pillar industry of Yunnan's economy. Its tax revenue accounts for about 70% of the province's fiscal revenue.Therefore, the development and stability of the tobacco industry plays a pivotal role in Yunnan's economic and social structure.

"In the past ten years, the leaders of Yunnan Tobacco Enterprises have made great contributions to the country and society. However, there have been three directors of large cigarette enterprises who have been investigated and dealt with due to corruption. This has caused the heroes of the tobacco industry to fall into the trap of revitalizing enterprises and resisting A vicious circle of corruption and incompetence." A person in the tobacco industry in Yunnan Province said so. The occurrence of Wei Jian's bribery case, for the entire tobacco industry in Yunnan, is like adding new wounds to unhealed old wounds.According to the charges of the public prosecution agency, during the period from December 1999 to September 2002, when the defendant Wei Jian was the director of the Qujing Cigarette Factory, he used the convenience of his position to seek benefits for others and illegally received Huang Wenhui (Huang Wenhui), the president of Ruihui Company ( has been sentenced) and others sent 800,000 yuan, 23,000 U.S. dollars (approximately equivalent to more than 190,000 yuan), and 20,000 Hong Kong dollars (approximately equivalent to 21,282 yuan); instigated and cooperated with the defendant Wei Ming (Wei Jian’s brother) Illegally received RMB 2.4 million from Wu Feipeng, RMB 800,000 from Su Hongbo and Wang Rongbo, and an Audi A6 car (worth more than RMB 550,000) from Chen Zhi.

What is intriguing is that Wei Jian used to be a worker, craftsman, chief of the production technology department, and director of the quality department of Yuxi Cigarette Factory. During the most prosperous period of Yuxi Cigarette Factory, he was one of the few proud disciples who was supported by Chu Shijian. A middle-level cadre of Qujing Cigarette Factory said that Wei Jian was transferred from Yuxi Cigarette Factory with good conditions in 1993 when the factory was struggling. In 1998, after he became the director of the factory, he took advantage of mastering the core technology of cigarettes and being familiar with the operation of the tobacco market to implement the brand expansion strategy, and developed two series of brand products, "Fu" and "Shilin", which optimized the product structure and improved the quality of cigarettes. quality.On this basis, increase sales investment, set up a marketing network, and promote cigarette sales to increase year by year.At the same time, drastic reform measures have been implemented: the implementation of an open bidding system for material procurement and engineering construction, which has greatly reduced production costs; the reduction and diversion of more than 2,000 enterprise employees, with a proportion as high as 36%; the construction of garden-style factories, with a green coverage rate of 65%.

From 1998 to 2002, the average annual increase of enterprise output value was nearly 1 billion yuan, and the average annual increase of profits and taxes was nearly 400 million yuan.For this, Qujing Cigarette Factory won honors such as "National 500 Large Industrial Enterprises" and "National Quality Management Excellent Enterprise". With the rapid development of enterprises and the improvement of economic benefits, the income of employees has doubled.As the factory manager, Wei Jian's salary plus government incentives is no less than 400,000 yuan per year.Such an income level is already astronomical in Yunnan, which is economically backward.

A person familiar with the situation commented: "A leading cadre of a state-owned enterprise like Wei Jian, whether he is the director of a cigarette factory or the deputy manager of a tobacco company, actually does not need to spend his own money anywhere. Therefore, 4.7 million It should not be tempting for bribes.” But the problem of bribery still inevitably occurred. Through the trajectory of Wei Jian's glory and depravity, people can't help but think of his master Chu Shijian.After Chu Shijian became the factory director of Yuxi Cigarette Factory in 1979, with his firm character and simple style, he managed to develop a little-known small factory into a modern tobacco enterprise that ranks No. 1 in Asia and No. 5 in the world. The annual profits and taxes are nearly 200 billion.Among the more than 180 cigarette enterprises in the country, Yuxi Cigarette Factory has maintained the first place in 7 indicators such as equipment and technology level, profit and tax, and export earnings for many years.However, when he became famous and was about to abdicate, in July 1995, together with Qiao Fake, the deputy director of the factory, and Luo Yijun, the chief economist, he jointly embezzled and privately distributed more than 3.5 million US dollars of public funds.

As for the embezzlement case involving Chen Chuanbai, director of the Kunming Cigarette Factory, since Chen Chuanbai fled in February 1996, the relevant departments have not made public the details of the case.According to reports, after Chen Chuanbai took office in Kunming Cigarette Factory in April 1987, he made great contributions to the development of the enterprise.However, as the enterprise developed, his greed also began to form. From 1992 to 1994, he took advantage of his position as the factory director to embezzle public funds, involving more than 16 million yuan. As for the reason why the directors of the three cigarette factories, who are known as the "big names" in the tobacco industry in Yunnan, are "rotten and succeeding", people often attribute it to "their mentality is out of balance and they have not grasped themselves correctly" in formal occasions.

In fact, apple rot cannot just check the cause of the apple itself, as the American scholar Amitai said: "To remove corruption, it is not just to pick out a rotten apple, but to check the basket where the apple is placed." After Wei Jian's case happened in August 2003, gossip spread in Kunming that his case was related to Huang Weibin, the former deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Yunnan Provincial People's Congress, who was a member of the Standing Committee of the Yunnan Provincial Party Committee and head of the Organization Department of the Provincial Party Committee.But in the institution, people have been keeping secrets.

On May 28, 2004, the Standing Committee of the Yunnan Provincial People's Congress issued an announcement saying: "Comrade Huang Weibin is the representative of the Tenth Provincial People's Congress elected by the Eleventh People's Congress of Lancang Lahu Autonomous County. The 12th Lancang Lahu Autonomous County On May 24, 2004, the Ninth Meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress dismissed Comrade Huang Weibin from his position as a representative of the Tenth Provincial People's Congress. According to the provisions of Article 48, Comrade Huang Weibin will be dismissed from his position as deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Tenth Yunnan Provincial People's Congress." As for the real reason for the dismissal, the announcement did not mention a single word.

According to a person familiar with the inside information of the Yunnan Provincial Tobacco Company, in early August 2003, Wei Jian was taken directly from Kunming to Beijing by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection to "double regulations" to assist in the investigation of Huang Weibin's problem.Later, the tobacco system spread the news that Wei Jian accepted 800,000 yuan in bribes while helping Huang Weibin's son Huang Wei and Guangdong boss Huang Wenhui to do cigarette trademark anti-counterfeiting film business. According to the information provided by this person, the reporter went through many twists and turns to find the middleman who shuttled between the official Huang Weibin, the factory director Wei Jian and the businessman Huang Wenhui.The middle-aged man who claimed to be a "businessman" was hesitant to speak in the face of the reporter's interview.With the efforts of the reporter, he introduced some situations: "Actually, I didn't do any work with them, and I didn't get any benefits. But as far as I know, Huang Weibin wanted to help his son Huang in the United States. Wei made money, which directly cleared up Wei Jian's relationship, and led to Huang Wei joining forces with Huang Wenhui and Qujing Cigarette Factory to do anti-counterfeiting film business."

He also revealed more specific details: "The cause of the incident was that after Huang Weibin's son Huang Wei came to the United States, he was deceived in doing business and urgently needed to make money to make ends meet. Huang Wenhui, who speaks foreign languages, went to the United States and established Ruihui Company with Huang Wei. In name, Huang Wenhui was the chairman of the company, but in fact the company's affairs in the United States were controlled by Huang Wei, so Huang Wenhui had to go to China to "open up the market". At that time, Wei Jian was Not long after, the director of Qujing Cigarette Factory is carrying out drastic reforms in the factory, implementing open bidding for the procurement of cigarette accessories, and deciding suppliers based on quality and price. Therefore, Huang Wei and Huang Wenhui cannot easily communicate with Wei Jian simply by Huang Weibin greeting Wei Jian. Qujing Cigarette Factory has made anti-counterfeiting film business." He went on to explain: "The situation at the time was that Wei Jian wanted to be a real entrepreneur. The most obvious example is that Governor Li Jiating once made a wish for him to be appointed as an official, 'the treatment at the deputy department level can be implemented', and the condition is that he wants Qujing cigarettes. The factory cooperated with Hong Kong businessman Li Zhengui to set up a printing factory (Li Jiating borrowed 13.5 million yuan from Li Zhengui for his mistress Xu Fuying. The offer was too high and was rejected by Wei Jian. In the eyes of ordinary people, the governor's wish is definitely more effective than the organization minister's greeting, but why does Wei Jian want to look far away and sacrifice the basics?" He analyzed: "The problem The key point is that the anti-counterfeiting film business operated by Huang Wei and Huang Wenhui was the lowest price among the quotations of several manufacturers at that time, and the quality also met the requirements, so Huang Weibin's greeting will play a role." A noteworthy episode is that on July 13, 2004, when the Kunming Intermediate People's Court held the first trial of Wei Jian's bribery case, his defense lawyer said that Wei Jian's acceptance of bribes from Huang Wenhui was not out of his own will. , but by external coercion.In this regard, a person close to Wei Jian's family confirmed to the reporter that Huang Weibin played a role that did not match his identity in the process of selling anti-counterfeiting films to Qujing Cigarette Factory for Huang Wei and Huang Wenhui.At first, he greeted Wei Jian, but Wei Jian didn't buy it, so he asked Wei Jian to buy shares in Huang Wei and Huang Wenhui's company in the name of his son, and after doing business to make money, he lived abroad.After being rejected by Wei Jian, he instructed Huang Wenhui to "change a Honda car" for Wei Jian's lover at a banquet. What happened afterwards was, "The car was too conspicuous, so Wei Jian didn't want it, but he accepted the 800,000 yuan bonus from Huang Wenhui."Wei Jian also argued in court that he accepted the money from Huang Wenhui because he followed normal procedures and did not harm the interests of the unit, so he did not realize that doing so would constitute a crime. What is even more suspicious is that after Wei Jian was tried for the first time, when the court was about to pronounce his sentence, he was taken out of the detention center by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and taken to Sichuan for "shuanggui". As a result of "fried twice-cooked meat", the amount of bribes he accepted has dramatically changed from the 800,000 yuan charged at the beginning to 4.7 million yuan.According to the disciplinary inspection cadres involved in handling the case, the self-interest he made was as high as more than 20 million yuan.However, due to difficulties in obtaining evidence and other reasons, many issues cannot be determined as crimes.Subsequently, Wei Jian's bribery case was designated by the Supreme People's Procuratorate and transferred to the Sichuan Provincial People's Procuratorate for handling. In fact, the problem of some leading cadres in Yunnan meddling in tobacco companies for personal gain was not exposed just today.A person who has been engaged in anti-corruption work for a long time told reporters: "In Yunnan Province, this problem is 'only to be understood, not to be explained', but outside of Yunnan, as long as people from the outside world hear that Yunnan's upper-level cadres are involved in corruption, they will think that related to the tobacco industry." An intriguing example is that after the incident, the former governor of Yunnan Province, Li Jiating, analyzed the reasons why he embarked on a criminal path. Seeking profit for the family and children creates an unbalanced mentality of what they can do and why they can’t do it themselves.”Therefore, in order to help his son Li Bo go abroad and survive in the society, he took advantage of the convenience of being in charge of the tobacco company to coordinate the export of 23,000 large boxes of cigarettes for Yang Rong, chairman of Hong Kong Won Tak Co., Ltd., making Yang Rong a profit of more than 23 million yuan. His son Li Bo, in the name of cooperating with Yang Rong in business, successively extorted or accepted more than 10 million yuan in bribes from Yang Rong; in order to settle the relationship with his mistress Xu Fuying, he came forward to Li Zhengui, chairman of Hong Kong Jinshili Group Co., Ltd. Borrowed 13.5 million yuan to Xu Fuying for squandering.After Xu Fuying was unable to repay, he instigated Hu Qipeng, the manager of Yunnan Tobacco Leaf Company, to increase the promotion fee of tobacco leaves without authorization, which made Li Zhengui obtain illegal profits of more than 26 million yuan. We can't imagine which leading cadres in the tobacco industry benefited their family members and children, which can have an impact on the corruption and degeneration of a high-ranking executive deputy governor, but we can be sure that only those whose positions and status are comparable to him Only when a person forms an environment around him can he develop the notion that he cannot change this environment, but adapt to it. A disciplinary inspection cadre who has long participated in handling major cases in the tobacco industry pointed out sharply: "The relevant central departments are very concerned about the corruption of senior and middle-level leaders in Yunnan tobacco enterprises for their children. The corruption cases of the factory manager are all handled by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection." He further analyzed that: "The scope of cases under the jurisdiction of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection is provincial and ministerial-level cadres, and the level of directors of tobacco factories in Yunnan tobacco industry is mostly at the department level, and only two or three are at the department level. However, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection has come forward to handle such cases. , which shows that the central government has always been firm in solving the problem of corruption of upper-level cadres hidden in the tobacco industry in Yunnan." "The firm attitude shows that the problem is serious." The disciplinary inspection cadre said, "Chen Chuanbai, the former director of the Kunming Cigarette Factory, is suspected of corruption. In fact, he is involved in the son of a provincial cadre who has held an important leadership position in Yunnan for more than ten years. together, and the cadre’s son absconded to the United States in 1994 after illegally making tens of millions of dollars.” Regarding the Chu Shijian corruption case, which was regarded as an "iron case" by relevant departments, according to a person who was involved in handling the case at the time and was very familiar with the inside information, he privately revealed to reporters: "Actually, the original intention of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection was to investigate and deal with violations of law and discipline by high-level cadres. Yuxi Cigarette Factory approved the issue of cigarettes for personal gain, but Chu Shijian obviously did not 'know the current affairs'. As a result, the object of the investigation dramatically became himself." After this call, the reporter carefully checked the reports of various media on the Chu Shijian case. To his surprise, the reporter found that the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection began to investigate and deal with Chu Shijian's violation of law and discipline in March 1995, and the crime of Chu Shijian's corruption case was committed in that year. July.The mystery hidden in it is definitely not something that can be summed up by habitual evaluations such as committing crimes against the wind and acting boldly. A Yunnan scholar engaged in macroeconomic operation research pointed out: "As the pillar industry of Yunnan's economy, the tobacco industry pays no less than 30 billion yuan in taxes to the state every year. At the same time, it also undertakes to support local fiscal revenue, stimulate economic development, and drive related industries. The function of industrial development. In addition, due to the widespread local financial difficulties, infrastructure construction and public welfare investment also rely on lucrative and powerful tobacco companies. As a result, economic work revolves around tobacco, and tobacco companies revolve around the government. unusual phenomenon." "The current situation is that, on the one hand, Yunnan's economic and social development urgently needs excellent tobacco entrepreneurs. On the other hand, the most outstanding entrepreneurs born and bred in the tobacco system have no It started well and ended well, and finally fell into the mud pit of corruption and crime.” A legal worker in Yunnan said frankly: “This fully exposes that the relevant government departments are not in place in the management of entrepreneurs, the service is not thoughtful, and the care is not thorough. If individual officials want to profit from it, Tobacco entrepreneurs whose fate is controlled by him are simply unable to fight against him." A current director of a cigarette factory once complained to a reporter: "Thinking about the past brilliant achievements of the three factory directors who have 'accidents' in recent years and today's bleak ending, it really makes people shudder." Since 2003, the long-term development plan of the tobacco system in Yunnan Province has been officially put into practice. China Tobacco Industry Company of Yunnan Province has been separated from Yunnan Tobacco Company to specialize in the management of 7 provinces including Yuxi, Kunming, Honghe, Qujing, Zhaotong, Chuxiong and Dali. The sales of cigarette factories and markets outside the province have completely broken the separation of government and enterprises in the tobacco system in Yunnan. The director of the cigarette factory also serves as the director of the local Tobacco Monopoly Bureau and the manager of the tobacco company. pattern.At the same time, Hongta Group and Hongyun Group, led by Yuxi Cigarette Factory and Kunming Cigarette Factory, are planning and quietly implementing mergers and reorganization plans among major cigarette companies. "Such reform measures have been carefully considered and fully demonstrated in terms of system design," said a person from the tobacco system in Yunnan Province. Managing and operating enterprises in accordance with the laws of the market is also conducive to the construction of a clean government in the tobacco industry. At the same time, it enables the factory directors to concentrate more on cigarette production and sales." But what is worrying is that if we cannot find an effective way and method to combine economic development and corruption prevention from the system, the tobacco giants will create huge wealth for the society on the one hand, and on the other hand, they will always worry about their own livelihood and future. With trepidation, what we can think of is still the controllability and uncertainty of their fate. (Text/Zheng Dianyun) Under the conditions of incomplete supervision and restriction mechanism and lack of concept of the rule of law, the integrity and self-discipline of high-level leading cadres is maintained only by their ideological and moral qualities. No one can guarantee that the bold and reckless among them will not intervene in the tobacco industry for personal gain.A scholar who has been engaged in anti-corruption research for a long time pointed out: "For the long-term development and revitalization of Yunnan's tobacco industry, it is very important to effectively solve its own corruption problems. To solve the corruption problem in the tobacco system, the self-discipline of government officials is more important than tobacco. The self-discipline of the factory manager is even more important.”