The front page of the Guangzhou Daily today announces that Ni Junxiong, the former Bureau Chief of Public Security in Maoming city, Guangdong province, has been convicted of corruption and sentenced to 15 years in jail. He will also be fined 3 million RMB and have another 3.38 million RMB worth of illegal income confiscated.
Ni was found guilty of accepting bribes, and “selling” positions in public security offices at the county level, from Chief of District Public Security Bureau, to deputy chief. These appointments varied in price from 300,000 RMB to 20,000 RMB. He would also demand bribes from officials looking to take time off, whether to visit a relative in the hospital or to celebrate a holiday like Spring Festival or Mid-Autumn festival. Bribes were required in exchange for any promotions, letters of recommendation, or appointments, as well as any private-sector ventures that needed government approval.
Ni has served in various positions of local-level politics in the past ten years: He sat on the Maoming City Communist Party Municipal Committee from December 2002, to July 2009; served part time as the secretary to the city’s Politics and Law Committee starting in 2005; and in 2009 became Deputy Director of comprehensive management of the Public Security Office of Guangdong province. The Guangzhou Dailyarticle reports that the trial found evidence of Ni’s corruption dating back to 2002.
The headline at the top of the front page: “Guangzhou held celebration activities in recognition of the 91stanniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China.”
Links and Sources
Guangzhou Daily: 茂名“卖官”公安局长判了15年 , 广州召开庆祝中国共产党成立91周年暨创先争优活动表彰大会
China Daily: Officials to be required to report assets
New York Review of Books: ” ‘In the current system, I’d be corrupt too’: an interview with Bao Tong”