Lust for Real Estate (and Porn) Fells Chinese Officials

Details of the downfall of another set of local officials felled by the Xi Jinping government’s anti-corruption campaign were released last week, and once again the misbehaving bureaucrats were accused of accumulating vast real estate holdings. (As well as a large stash of dirty DVDs).

A deputy mayor of Hohhot, a deputy mayor of Hulunbeir, and the former vice-secretary general of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, have all been removed from their positions in the outlying Chinese province and dismissed from the Party “due to serious violation of discipline” since last year.

However, what was revealed last week was the extent and nature of the ill-gotten assets that these officials had accumulated through abuse of their positions.

Wu Zhizhong, the former deputy secretary general of Inner Mongolia, has received the greated attention in the local press, where it was revealed that the former director of the region’s legislative affairs office had hid bundles of cash, silver, gold and other assets in his home which were valued at nearly 300 years’ worth of his annual salary.

Bureaucrats Building Real Estate Portfolios

The misbehaving bureaucrat also is reported to have built up a real estate portfolio of 33 properties, including one house in Canada. The keys to Wu’s homes are said to have filled an entire handbag.

One room in Wu’s home has gained the most attention among local readers after news leaked that the fallen official had set up the chamber as a Buddhist prayer room for study of religious texts, but also stocked it with a collection of more than 100 pornographic films which he kept stashed under a Buddha statue.

Government investigators are also charging Bo Liangen, the executive deputy mayor of Hohhot, with having compiled assets of nearly RMB 40 million from January 2004 to February 2013. Bo, who had authority over urban construction in the capital of the autonomous region is said to have taken bribes in the form of cash and property and built a portfolio of properties in Beijing, Tianjin and Zhuhai.

The third fallen civil servant from Inner Mongolia, Jin Zhao, had been the deputy major of Hulunbuir before his penchant for giving his girlfriends apartments and taking frequent overseas trips at taxpayer expense is said to have eventually brought him down.

Even Far Away Officials Coming Under Scrutiny

The active prosecutions of the Inner Mongolian officials seems to fit a pattern of the Xi government seeking to establish that no matter how high the hills and however far away the emperor, that it is willing to punish misbehaving party members.

Late last month Guangzhou Party Secretary Wan Qingliang became one of the highest level Chinese officials to lose his job amidst the country’s current anti-corruption campaign, as a group of cadres in the far southern province were disciplined for misconduct and corruption.

Wan’s downfall was also tied to his accumulation of an outsized real estate portfolio and allegations that he and his cronies had taken bribes in return for influencing land sales and licensing property projects.