Chapter 6 Chapter 5: The No. 1 Commercial Bribery in Beijing

On March 6, 2006, Premier Wen Jiabao pointed out in the "Government Work Report" that this year we will focus on the special work of combating commercial bribery, focusing on commercial bribery in the fields of engineering construction, land transfer, property rights transactions, pharmaceutical purchases and sales, and government procurement. , resolutely correct improper transactions, investigate and deal with commercial bribery cases according to law. Cracking down on commercial bribery has become the top priority of the judiciary's anti-corruption struggle in 2006. On April 28, 2006, the Beijing Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection held a press conference to report commercial bribery cases involving major economic links. At the top of the list, he is also the first official to be sentenced to death since the judiciary in Beijing cracked down on commercial bribery crimes.

Why does a small technology director of a bank dare to open his mouth and ask for a rebate of 10.75 million yuan in 6 years?Wen Mengjie extorted bribes and embezzled tens of millions of yuan, and bought himself a mansion worth more than 30 million yuan. Why did he argue in court that he was working for the welfare of his employees?It seems that only by being different can we stand out.We believe that Wen Mengjie, a computer genius, understands this truth, so even if his death is imminent, he must say a "famous saying" and leave it for future generations. This is Wen Mengjie's last tragic performance, which shows his ugliness and sadness even more.

Wen Mengjie, who is both an official and a businessman, is well aware of the "hidden rules" of the market Wen Mengjie was born in Leting County, Hebei Province in 1956. After graduating from Beijing Finance Institute in 1984, he was assigned to work in the Science and Technology Department of Beijing Branch of Beijing Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. In 1987, Wen Mengjie, a computer genius already well-known in the Beijing ICBC system, became the deputy director of the Technology Department of Beijing ICBC. Whether in the professional field or in his career, he is a lucky person who is appreciated by leaders and envied by colleagues.But Wen Mengjie is different in that he does not miss the position of deputy director, but focuses on his profession, trying to become a rare figure in the computer field. Wen Mengjie went to Australia to study in 1989, studying for a master's degree in applied electronics. After graduating and returning to China in 1992, he and his wife founded a technology limited company.However, although Wen Mengjie is a genius in the professional field, it is very difficult to become the boss of the company.After several years of working in the company, there was no improvement. At this time, he began to regret giving up his position as deputy director easily.

As if blessed by heaven, in 1994, the Beijing Branch of the Agricultural Bank of China introduced scientific and technological talents. Wen Mengjie went to apply for the job after hearing the news. Go to the banking system and serve as the chief engineer of the Science and Technology Department of the Agricultural Bank of China Beijing Branch, enjoying the director-level treatment. Wen Mengjie handed over the management of the company he started to his wife, and returned to the banking system to concentrate on being the chief engineer.At that time, in Beijing Agricultural Bank, Wen Mengjie was a first-class expert in computer technology, and made great contributions to the technical support of the unit.Objectively speaking, Wen Mengjie is a rare professional talent.In the eyes of leaders and colleagues, he is restrained but very smart. Once there is an unexpected failure of the computer technology in the bank, he will definitely solve it when he comes to him.Due to Wen Mengjie's excellent business ability and his experience in starting a company, he was quickly promoted from a technician to a leadership position. In 1997, Wen Mengjie was promoted to the legal representative and general manager of Beijing Jinxin Strong Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Beijing Agricultural Bank. In 1998, Wen Mengjie was appointed as the director of the Science and Technology Department of the Beijing Branch of the Agricultural Bank of China.For a while, Wen Mengjie was both an official and a businessman, with unlimited scenery.

The Science and Technology Department is a department of the Beijing Agricultural Bank of China. It has two brands and one team with the Beijing Jinxin Sichuang Computer Company under the Beijing Branch. Its main functions are to be responsible for the technical support of the computer and network systems of the branch system, and to be responsible for the procurement of equipment and software. When Wen Mengjie first arrived at the Science and Technology Department, there were only 20 to 30 people in the department. With the widespread use of computers in the banking system and the development of the banking network, the Science and Technology Department has also grown to 80 or 90 people. s position.However, Wen Mengjie valued this position not just as a department-level cadre, but the real power held by this position and the huge benefits behind the real power.This interest is the kickback when buying electronic equipment. In the circle, this kind of kickback is almost a game rule that everyone follows.What's more, Wen Mengjie is both an official and a businessman. He has purchasing power and is familiar with the market conditions, so he is naturally very accurate about the amount of kickbacks he will receive.

In addition to providing technical support and maintenance management for the computer and network systems of the banking system, the Science and Technology Department also purchases a large number of equipment according to the needs of the bank.Regardless of whether the external procurement is in the name of the bank, the Science and Technology Department or Beijing Jinxin Strong, it needs to be signed by the director Wen Mengjie and submitted to the supervisor for approval before signing a supply contract with the supplier.As for the price of the equipment, because each product is different, and the price of electronic products is changing rapidly, it is impossible for the director in charge to know clearly.

The competition in the domestic electronic market is extremely fierce. For Wen Mengjie, he has the purchasing power of hundreds of millions of yuan, and there are so many suppliers, but there is very little buyer's market. The goal. Electronic product sales generally sign the contract first, and then pay after the supply.Suppliers always do everything possible to sell out the equipment and software, and then try hard to get back the payment in time. In addition, equipment maintenance, software upgrades, after-sales service, and new project development will mean a lot to suppliers. With huge business opportunities.Therefore, whoever can curry favor with Wen Mengjie, a powerful figure, means a lot of money.

However, the suppliers only regard Wen Mengjie as a department head, but often underestimate Wen Mengjie's professional talent, because he can estimate the profit behind each order very accurately.As for how much kickback to ask for and when to ask for it, Wen Mengjie also grasped it very accurately. Criminal means High IQ, greedy and big appetite As a middle-level manager in the banking system, Wen Mengjie's income should not be low. In terms of housing alone, he was allocated two houses.But Wen Mengjie was not satisfied with the well-off and comfortable life with the garage and garage.Unrestrained greed and desire for money completely collapsed Wen Mengjie's moral defense.How to use the power in his hands to make more money for himself has become a big business that Wen Mengjie dreamed of. This computer genius soon became an insatiable money-making master.

Under the situation of increasingly fierce competition, in order to get an order, many suppliers often do whatever they can, and those who hold the power of procurement review can easily make a fortune by doing so. This is the unspoken rule outside of procurement.This kind of industry kickback, one side is eager to give it away, and the other side is eager to get it, and the two hit it off. Wen Mengjie had started a company by himself, so he naturally knew how to collect kickbacks so as not to show any traces.Moreover, Wen Mengjie didn't bother to ask for a pocket money of one hundred and eighty thousand yuan. He had always made big moves, and his operation also showed his high IQ.

In 1998, Wen Mengjie became the Director of Science and Technology. After taking power, he immediately asked his nephew to open an account at the Beijing Fangzhuang Sales Department of Southern Securities in order to provide a "safe" for the rebates he asked for. The rebates claimed are deposited into this account one after another.Later, in order to deceive others, Wen Mengjie also asked his nephew to open a current account with the ID card of a classmate surnamed Wu, deposit the cash cashed from the account of the business department into this account, and then transfer it to other accounts.In this way, Wen Mengjie established a rather concealed kickback transfer channel, and the stolen money disappeared after several transfers, which laid a barrier for him to wantonly accept commercial bribes in the future.

In early 1999, Wen Mengjie, who had just taken office, began to extort bribes.Not long after the Beijing Agricultural Bank signed a contract with a certain company, Wen Mengjie took the initiative to call the boss of the company. After a couple of plausible polite words, the boss understood Wen Mengjie's meaning: he wanted the profit of this project. Two thirds! What a rip off!The first cooperation dared to open his mouth so openly. The manager who had been in the mall felt that it was rare to meet an opponent. He said embarrassingly: "We didn't make much money from this project. Besides, we spent dozens of dollars. For you, the company has difficulties in keeping accounts!" Wen Mengjie is very particular about strategy, he said unhurriedly: "You should take a long view, you agreed to this matter, we are friends, the contract payment will be sent to you very quickly, in the future the Agricultural Bank will have plenty of business Do it for you." Wen Mengjie even called the boss and said, "It doesn't matter about the invoice. I can find a company to sign a subcontract and let another company issue an invoice that can be accounted for." In order to get the money smoothly, Wen Mengjie even said in a very sympathetic tone: "The rebate can be paid to me after we pay you the contract money, and it can be paid in installments." Seeing that Wen Mengjie, who was in power, was so considerate, it would be elm to refuse to agree. In desperation, the manager had no choice but to obediently hand over two-thirds of their profits.Soon, a transfer check of 400,000 yuan was successfully transferred to the account opened by Wen Mengjie's nephew. And this is just Wen Mengjie's small test. Since then, Wen Mengjie has accepted bribes worth millions of dollars.In a similar way, under Wen Mengjie's coercion and lure, sums of kickbacks from business units flowed into his personal pocket.Among the companies Wen Mengjie ripped off, they even included well-known large domestic companies. After the incident, the court determined that Wen Mengjie accepted commercial bribes. The main facts are as follows: From February 1999 to February 2004, Wen Mengjie used his positions as the director, general manager, and director of the Science and Technology Department of the Beijing Branch of the Agricultural Bank of China, as well as Beijing Jinxinsi. The legal representative of Chuang Technology Co., Ltd. is in charge of the electronic equipment and software procurement and audit of the unit. He has repeatedly asked for money from business relationship units, including more than RMB 2.555 million from Beijing Beida Jade Bird Commercial Information System Co., Ltd. RMB 2.798 million from Beijing Depak Information Technology Co., Ltd.; RMB 3.005 million from Beijing Xinchen Technology Co., Ltd.; RMB 2.3778 million from Beijing Kangda Lianke Information Technology Co., Ltd.The solicited funds totaled more than 10.73 million yuan. In addition, from June 2003 to June 2004, during the process of purchasing ATMs, Wen Mengjie used fraudulent means to illegally occupy more than 4.32 million yuan of public funds from his unit. Over the past six years, Wen Mengjie has solicited a total of 10.73 million yuan in commercial bribes and embezzled 4.32 million yuan in public funds.The amount involved actually reached 15.05 million yuan!Some professionals have calculated that Wen Mengjie's bribery and embezzlement accounted for one-eighth of the total contracts signed between Beijing Agricultural Bank and these companies! Whoever wants to fall into the money net will surely fall into the law net Different from other corrupt officials, the kickbacks and embezzled money received by Wen Mengjie, who is very business-conscious, did not squander or transfer overseas, but used the money to invest in real estate.Wen Mengjie put the money from corruption and bribery into three properties in Jianwai SOHO and Sunshine 100, the most prosperous business district in Beijing. While Wen Mengjie repeatedly succeeded and collected a large amount of kickbacks, he also dug his own grave to completely bury himself.As early as December 2003, Beijing Agricultural Bank received an anonymous letter of complaint, claiming that Wen Mengjie had asked for kickbacks from business units.For this reason, the vice president in charge had a special talk with Wen Mengjie, but Wen Mengjie denied it and did not admit to accepting kickbacks. In June 2004, the No. 1 Branch of the Beijing Municipal People's Procuratorate received a report letter, reporting that Wen Mengjie spent a huge amount of money to buy commercial housing in Jianwai SOHO, and his expenditure obviously exceeded his legal income.According to the clues of the report, the investigators quickly went to Beijing Hongshi Jianwai Real Estate Company for verification.According to the financial information of Hongshi Company: In November 2002, Wen Mengjie purchased 3 sets of pre-sale commodity pavement houses in Jianwai SOHO with thousands of square meters and a value of 34 million yuan in the name of his wife. By the end of June 2004, more than 32 million yuan had been paid. .However, the payment for the house purchase comes from different sources: in addition to bank loans and a small amount of cash, there are also a large number of check payments and overseas remittances. What puzzled the investigators was, where did the director of a bank get so much money?The investigators decided to find out the source of funds item by item.When verifying a repayment of 1 million yuan in the name of Wu, the investigators retrieved the video from the bank and found that two people made the payment, one of whom was wearing glasses and holding a handbag full of cash. The middle-aged man is none other than Wen Mengjie! Prosecutors quickly found Wen Mengjie's wife to verify the purchase of Jianwai SOHO house.His wife confirmed that Jianwai SOHO's house payment of more than 30 million yuan was mainly paid by Wen Mengjie. As for where he got the money, she didn't know. On July 24, 2004, Wen Mengjie was arrested in accordance with the law by the Beijing Municipal People's Procuratorate on suspicion of a huge amount of property with unknown sources.Before Wen Mengjie was arrested, he signed a divorce agreement with his wife. Regarding the final distribution of the three commercial houses, one of the commercial houses worth more than 16 million yuan belonged to his wife. How much of the three houses were paid for? Wen Mengjie's wife's dedication, Wen Mengjie can't explain clearly.However, it is well documented that Wen Mengjie invested almost all of the public funds from bribery and embezzlement in these three commercial houses. After Wen Mengjie was arrested, facing overwhelming evidence, he excused himself in every possible way.The reasons he cited for asking for kickbacks are ridiculous: one is to ask for kickbacks from business units to stabilize the team of technical personnel and improve welfare benefits.The second is to consider that the Science and Technology Department is operating as a company. The practice of the staff of the Science and Technology Department receiving wages and expenses from the company is very controversial within the Agricultural Bank of China and will not last long.The third is that in each branch's meeting of directors of science and technology, how to stabilize the science and technology team will be discussed.Wen Mengjie wanted to use kickbacks to stabilize the technology team.Another consideration is that some college students in the Science and Technology Department of the Agricultural Bank of China have switched jobs. Unfortunately, he wants to turn the rebates from the business unit into a reasonable and legal form, and set up some kind of fund to support scientific and technological personnel who have contributed. Subsidies, as a guarantee for a stable team. Of course Wen Mengjie is not a living Lei Feng, if it is for the benefit of the unit, why would he bother so much?Why pay the price of breaking the law?These justifications sound so ridiculous. What's even more ridiculous is that Wen Mengjie himself thinks that accepting kickbacks is just a "commercial practice". He thinks that he is not taking money from the state. All are part of the profit of the supplier, and have not brought losses to the country or the Agricultural Bank of China.Doesn't Wen Mengjie understand that this is no longer a problem of loss, but a problem of crime? Seeing that the fire could not be contained in the paper, Wen Mengjie said naively: "I am willing to withdraw all the money I asked for from the supplier. At the same time, I hope that the judiciary will take my contribution into consideration when dealing with my problem. The money from the business unit I took did not cause any losses to the branch, so I dealt with it lightly." Business practice as a cover, it is difficult to cover up the crime of bribery and corruption Wen Mengjie was arrested on July 24, 2004. After more than 10 months of hard work, the investigators finally thoroughly verified hundreds of transactions related to the purchase of houses.The criminal facts of Wen Mengjie's extortion of 10.73 million yuan in bribes and 4.32 million yuan of embezzlement of public funds have also become clear.Soon, Wen Mengjie was sued in court. On October 13, 2005, the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court publicly heard the case.In the court, Wen Mengjie still made the final sophistry, saying that he wanted to set up a foundation to seek benefits for the employees of the unit by asking for kickbacks and embezzlement from the business unit, trying to reduce his guilt. During the court hearing, the gentle Wen Mengjie kept rubbing his hands and moving his body in the dock.The powerful director has repeatedly made ridiculous excuses for his money-gathering behavior. "The more than 10 million I want is a profit rebate, which does not harm the interests of the country, let alone for myself, I am for the welfare of the employees of the unit." Wen Mengjie said: "Jinxin Strong has actually undertaken the welfare of nearly 100 employees in the Science and Technology Department. At the beginning of the month, I have to consider where the salaries of these people will come from, and at the end of the month, I have to consider where the bonuses will come from.” In the process of purchasing computers and other equipment, Wen Mengjie said that he asked the supplier for money four or five times as the person in charge of Jinxin Strong. He said that the reason why the supplier was willing to give the money was to cultivate the market and establish long-term cooperation relation.However, after taking the money, Wen Mengjie, who claimed to be working for the welfare of employees, transferred the money to the Jianwai SOHO commercial housing and Sunshine 100 commercial housing purchased in the name of his wife. What a good leader who cares for the employees wholeheartedly!Good officer!Willing to take the risk of defying the law and racking their brains to "accept" huge bribes for employees.When the presiding judge asked him sharply: "Since it is for the employees, do other leaders of the unit know about it? How can the unit ask you for the money?" Wen Mengjie thought for a long time before answering: "There is no other person in the unit." know about it." Why hide it for the benefit of your subordinates?Wen Mengjie's defense could not be accepted by the public prosecutor, because if he was asking for money from the supplier on behalf of Jinxin Strong, he could issue Jinxin Strong's invoice when the supplier asked for balance, but he issued the invoice privately through a friend's company , and gave the friend a handling fee.The public prosecutor believes that Wen Mengjie, as a state employee, extorts other people's property and embezzles public funds, which has constituted the crime of accepting bribes and embezzlement. After two days of continuous trial, the court found that: From February 1999 to February 2004, Wen Mengjie took advantage of his position to ask for money from business relationship units several times, totaling 10.73 million yuan. From June 2003 to June 2004, in the process of purchasing ATM automatic teller machines, Wen Mengjie used fraudulent means to illegally occupy more than 4.32 million yuan of public funds of his unit.And use the 15 million yuan to buy a house in Jianwai SOHO in the name of his wife.The court held that the defendant, Wen Mengjie, as a state employee, took advantage of his position to solicit property from others, and his behavior constituted the crime of accepting bribes; , and his behavior also constituted a crime of corruption.The amount of bribes and embezzlement committed by Wen Mengjie is particularly huge, and the circumstances are particularly serious.The crime of accepting bribes has seriously violated the integrity of state functionaries, and there are circumstances of soliciting bribes, so he should be given a heavier punishment in accordance with the law; the crime of embezzlement is also extremely serious, and should have been sentenced to death. If it is recovered, the crime of corruption committed by it may not be executed immediately. On December 20, 2005, the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court made a first-instance verdict on Wen Mengjie's embezzlement and bribery case.For the crimes of accepting bribes and embezzlement, and punishing several crimes together, the defendant Wen Mengjie was sentenced to death, deprived of political rights for life, and all personal property was confiscated.After the judgment of the first instance, Wen Mengjie appealed to the Beijing Higher People's Court. On July 10, 2006, the Beijing Higher People's Court rejected Wen Mengjie's appeal and upheld the first-instance judgment. "My only mistake was that I didn't protect myself well." After being sentenced to death, Wen Mengjie said he would appeal. He still insisted that his behavior was driven by social atmosphere and business practices. To crack down on commercial bribery, we must keep an eye on powerful figures The History of Wen Mengjie's Fortune and Destruction is a vivid negative textbook on commercial bribery. It shows that in combating commercial bribery, we must first attack the "real power figures". Why can Wen Mengjie take money out of other people's pockets frequently?As a manager of a private company said: The market competition is too cruel, who wants to offend Wen Mengjie, a powerful figure!Obviously, just because they hoped to get the help of Wen Mengjie, a "powerful figure", to remain invincible in the cruel market competition, most business partners had to compromise and hand over the vain money to Wen Mengjie. Like Wen Mengjie, there are also some "real power figures" in many industries such as medical care, telecommunications, finance, and construction. They have several notable characteristics. First, the "real power figures" do not have high official positions, but their positions are very important, and they have strong approval power and decision-making power. Enterprises in the industry generally cannot afford to offend them.Wen Mengjie's Science and Technology Department is responsible for the procurement of computer equipment and software for the Beijing Agricultural Bank of China's system, and Wen Mengjie himself is responsible for reviewing and managing the above-mentioned businesses. His position is really crucial. Second, "people with real power" are often responsible for the investment and cashing of large amounts of public funds and have relatively large financial power.Wen Mengjie signed a contract with the supplier for several million yuan. In the eyes of his business partners, he is a god of wealth.As a manager of a private enterprise said: "Every time Lao Wen asked us for money, it was after the contract was signed and before the Agricultural Bank of China paid. He just caught our psychology." Wen Mengjie has firmly grasped this financial power, Only then can business partners be willing to be slaughtered by them. Third, the jobs performed by "power figures" usually have a certain degree of professionalism, which is difficult for outsiders to touch.For example, the Science and Technology Department where Wen Mengjie works is responsible for the technical support of the computer and network systems of the Beijing Agricultural Bank of China. Because of this, Wen Mengjie lacked the eyes of supervision. As a result, if nothing happened, it would be shocking.In many fields of science and technology, we have often heard of academic leaders with excellent technology and sick thinking who fell down due to commercial bribery. Under the circumstances that the various regulatory mechanisms are not perfect, the participation of "powerful people" in market competition will inevitably lead to the occurrence of commercial bribery.Because objectively speaking, "persons with real power" represent government departments or state-owned enterprises and institutions. Compared with general market players, they have incomparable market resources and are likely to become targets of corruption by profit-seeking enterprises; Subjectively speaking, "people with real power" don't care about the cost. When the systems of bidding and capital supervision are not very sound, they can even give up the capital and shoddy it because of their own likes and dislikes, because the money is not their own . In this way, the chronic disease of commercial bribery is most prominently reflected in the "persons with real power", and once the "persons with real power" are hit by commercial bribery, the damage will not only be on the market economy itself, because the market economy and the rule of law in society are one. There are two sides of the same coin. When commercial bribery becomes a "hidden rule" and when the rule maker becomes the "hidden rule" executor, people will look beyond the simple issue of transaction fairness and pay attention to a wider society Value orientation and fairness and justice.At present, the central government is stepping up its efforts to take the control of commercial bribery as the focus of anti-corruption work. We hereby appeal: to combat commercial bribery, there must be concrete measures to keep an eye on the "powerful people". It is indeed shocking that the director of a science and technology department has solicited bribes and embezzled more than 15 million yuan in public funds in six years.Looking back at his criminal path, greed is undoubtedly the internal cause of Wen Mengjie's crimes. However, if the unit has a seamless and rigorous procurement system with sound rules and regulations, his greed will not be such a big blame.In the absence of supervision, Wen Mengjie's greed had fermented soil.