By staff reporter Hu Xiaoliang

Gao Yong, 39, was once a promising young official with youth and a doctorate in economics on his side. But now he is faced with the death penalty on charges of corruption. Over the course of eight years as an official in SichuanProvince, Gao pocketed more than 20 million yuan (US＄ 2.42 million) worth of bribes.

Gao came under suspicion after government graft investigators targeted Liu Zhiyuan, the former board chairman of Beijing Century Xingye Investment Co. As part of a plea agreement, Liu Zhiyuan told investigators Gao Yong asked him to pay 1.2 million yuan (US＄ 145,000) in order to approve the purchase of a company in Guizhou. At the time, Gao was the director of Guizhou Special Appointed Office of CSRC, where he worked from November 2000 to June 2002. Gao asked Liu to transfer the money to the account of Sichuan Jinsuoma Investment Consulting Co., Ltd, set up by Gao to accept bribes.

Academic Extortion

Those familiar with Gao said he asked for bribes to defray the cost of "publishing books." Gao received a Ph.D in economics from Southwest University of Finance and Economics in 1996. Upon graduation he took up a post in the Sichuan provincial government, but continued publishing academic papers and books. During the past 10 years, Gao Yong published 317 papers, contributed to 17 books, penned five books himself, and completed 44 research projects. Because of his extensive research, he was appointed as part-time professor at three universities.

But these achievements served as a smoke screen for his corrupt dealings. According to sources, Gao extorted over 1.3 million yuan (US＄ 157,000) from more than 75 companies. In 1996, he was appointed vice governor of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan. Just two years later, in 1998, Gao helped Liangshan Xinyue Company received a contract to supply cement for a road-construction project and asked Xinyue to pay him 558,000 yuan (US＄ 67,390) to sponsor the publishing of a book. The same year, Gao asked the Liangshan sub-branch of ICBC (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China) to buy 50,000 yuan (US＄ 6,000) worth of his books. When the sub-branch proved reluctant, Gao urged the sub-branch repeatedly and even sent a 50,000-yuan invoice to the sub-branch.

During his tenure as Vice-Governor of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Gao, in charge of attracting investors and restructuring state-owned enterprises, accumulated a much larger sum of money than he did under the name of "publishing books."

Between 1997 and 1998, the Sichuan Xichang Power Jointstock Co., Ltd underwent restructuring. After learning that Sichuan Lixin Investment Co., Ltd wished to buy shares of Xichang, Gao arranged for Jing Hong, the general manager of Shengzheng Sales Department of China Economic Development Trust & Investment Corp., to purchase 14.15 million shares in Xichang. Thereafter, Lixin was forced to pay an additional 0.3 yuan (US＄ 0.04) per share to buy them from Jing Hong. The result was that Hong profited over 4.24 million yuan (US＄ 512,000) from the deal and transferred 1.4 million yuan (US＄ 169,000) to the account of Gao Yong.

Between the end of 1996 and 2000, Gao helped Sichuan Lixin Investment Co., Ltd purchase 290,000 shares of corporate shares in Sichuan Xichang Power Jointstock Co., Ltd. Gao, as a government official, was able to extort over 1.22 million yuan (US＄ 147,300) from Zhang Liangbin, chairman of Xichang. Gao also asked 500,000 yuan (US＄ 60,390) from a consulting firm for arranging contracts from Sichuan Xichang Power Jointstock Co., Ltd.

CSRC Tenure

In September 1999, he was named deputy director of the Chengdu Office of China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). During his term at CSRC, Gao became more unscrupulous. In 1999, Sichuan Top Software Co., Ltd intended to finance an expansion by issuing new stock. When Gao investigated the company to see whether it met regulatory criteria for new stock issuance, he found it not up to par. Later, Top Software proposed "sponsoring" the publishing of Gao’s books and Gao accepted. On May 26, 2000, Top Software issued 33.8 million shares of A-stock on Chinese domestic stock market. Later, Top Software transferred 836 thousand yuan (US＄ 101,000) to Gao’s account.

In 2000, Liu Bangcheng from Sichuan Gangtai Group came to Gao and asked him to help with finding capital to secure new loans from local banks. Later Gao asked Nanfang Securities, Huaxia Securities, and Top Software among others companies under his regulatory oversight about depositing more than 100 million yuan (US＄ 12.08 million) in the bank specified by Liu Bangcheng. Liu gave Gao Yong a 1.8 million yuan (US＄ 217,000) kickback for his help.

In 2000, Gao extorted 400,000 yuan (US＄ 48,300) from Chen Zhonglian, board chairman of Guangdong Yinghao Science-technology & Education Investment Co., by claiming Gao suffered a loss from a stock investment suggested by Chen. Gao asked for another 500,000 yuan (US＄ 60,400) from Chen by saying that his friend also lost money on the investment.

On June 2002, he became a member of the Chengdu Party standing committee and from September 2003 to October 2004, he headed the Chengdu’s Propaganda Department Committee. In 2004, he asked a stockholder of a newspaper under the Propaganda Department’s supervision to purchase gold bars, without repaying the stockholder.