Graft in property sector uncovered

The Party's disciplinary watchdog has uncovered corruption in the property sector in 20 of 21 provincial areas inspected so far.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection has carried out three rounds of inspection since the Party's 18th National Congress in 2012 which revealed widespread property-related corruption.

It named Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Hubei, Guizhou, Jilin, Shanxi, Anhui, Hunan, Guangdong, Yunnan, Liaoning, Fujian, Shandong, Henan, Hainan, Gansu and Ningxia.

Some officials were found to have colluded with businessmen in power-for-money deals.

They intervened in the public bidding for urban construction projects to ensure the people who had given them huge bribes got the contracts. Some gave contracts to relatives or friends ahead of the bidding process and some illegally obtained several state-distributed houses, China Economic Weekly reported yesterday.

One example cited was that of Wang Suyi in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

From 2005 to 2013 when he was mayor of Bayannur Prefecture, he offered business opportunities or promotions to nine companies and individuals.

In return, he accepted 10.73 million yuan (US$1.7 million), the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court heard when it sentenced him to life imprisonment on July 17.

The magazine also said that Wan Qingliang, former Party chief of Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, and Zhang Tianxin, former Party chief of Kunming, Yunnan's capital, were implicated in real estate issues.

The province not highlighted by the inspection teams was Jiangxi.

However, problems were found there by the Party's Organization Department after it received tip-offs, the magazine reported.

Chen Anzhong, former deputy director of the provincial legislature, who was expelled from the Party and public office in May, was reported to have extremely close relations with real estate developers and reported to have intervened in several construction projects.

The magazine reported a claim by Zhou Jianhua, former chairman of the standing committee of the People's Congress of Xinyu City, that the wife of Su Rong, former vice chairman of the country's top political advisory body, had accepted tens of millions of yuan to help a Hong Kong businessman acquire land in the province.

On July 16, Wang Qishan, China's anti-graft chief, vowed to maintain a "high-voltage" crackdown on corruption and resolutely contain the spread of corruption.

Another round of inspections this year will cover Shanghai, Guangxi, Qinghai, Tibet, Zhejiang, Hebei, Shaanxi, Heilongjiang, Sichuan and Jiangsu.

Wang has urged inspectors to watch out for corruption in mining, natural resources, land transfer, real estate development, construction projects, public and special funds, Xinhua news agency reported.