By staff reporter Wang Heyan
  
(Caijing Magazine) Cash, real estate and a golden book of traditional Chinese morals –literally made of gold – were just a few of the perks Fan Zhongqian received during 20 years as a government official in Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou Province.

Fan apparently enjoyed the cash and property, but ignored the book. Authorities say he bypassed moral ways to wealth for a fast track by accepting bribes in exchange for government favors.

Fan, 52, has been awaiting a court verdict since March after standing trial in Guiyang Intermediate Court for accepting more than 10 million yuan bribes. The former mayoral assistant and chief of the city's land resources and urban construction department has been in custody since spring 2008.

His wife, Tan Jin, a former official at Guizhou Normal University, has already been sentenced to a five-year prison term for taking bribes. She was convicted shortly before Fan went to court.

Most of the bribes Fan allegedly accepted between February 2001 and April 2008 were paid by building project contractors and construction companies who in turn received government contracts.

And the scope of the corruption case has posed a challenge for investigators. "It's a big case involving too many people," an informed source told Caijing.

Fan was accused of accepting more than 10 million yuan from 50 real estate developers and building contractors, as well as US$ 40,000, HK$ 248,000 and 50 bars of gold, in addition to the golden book.

In court, Fan was unable to account for much of his cash wealth including 2.46 million yuan, 122,200 euros, HK$ 361,900 and US$ 252,300. He was also charged with accepting 86,000 yuan as gifts.

Fan streamlined government jobs and provided fee reductions, waivers and payment delays for urban construction projects to any company willing to pay the price.

Payoff Legacy

Investigators said Fan started taking payoffs shortly after his first appointment as a government official. He rose from the bottom after finishing his undergraduate study in Chinese at Guizhou Normal University in 1985. He was assigned a clerical job at a city office but was promoted three years later to deputy director of administration for a neighborhood in the city's Yunyan District.
 
He allegedly pocketed the first bribe – 1,000 yuan -- in 1989 after helping a businessman to obtain construction rights for a housing project by registering his logistics firm as a subsidiary of a labor service company owned by the Yunyan District's Huanchengbeilu Administration Office, where Fan served as deputy director.

Fan's influence and power increased over the years. And so did the payoffs.

Big money started rolling in after Fan became director-general of Guiyang's National Land Bureau in 1999. For example, investigators found, he accepted 120,000 yuan from a local real estate developer after fast-tracking approval procedures for land transfers and development for two commercial housing projects in 1999 and 2001.

During his 20 years in office, Fan climbed a career ladder. He served on the Yunyan District urban management committee and Guiyang environment and sanitation authority. He also held leading posts with the  land bureau, city construction committee, construction bureau and a new urban district in northwest Guiyang called Jinyang New Zone.

Fan was serving as a mayor's assistant and member of the local Communist Party leadership – and was on the threshold of another promotion -- when officials from the party discipline office moved in.

Developer Graft

Fan's ability to win promotions and execute deals efficiently made him a darling of real estate developers and engineering project contractors, many of whom considered buying his friendship as a long-term investment.

Among the 50 land developers who allegedly greased Fan's palm, the biggest spender was Wang Gang, legal representative for Guizhou Daxing Housing Development Co. Ltd. With Fan's help and advice, Wang's company won a city government contract for an urban construction project in July 2001 – even though Daxing was not qualified and submitted the bid under the name China Construction Fifth Engineering Division Corp. Ltd.

Investigators said Fan accepted 1.6 million yuan in two bribe batches from Wang.

Cui Quanqing, a private building contractor from neighboring Guangxi Autonomous Region, used a similar tactic before submitting a winning bid to build a major road overpass in downtown Guiyang in 2002. His company also apparently lacked qualifications for the project.

Fan, who was responsible for inspecting construction projects, knew Cui had violated China's Construction Law by bidding in the name of Guizhou Construction and Engineering Group, No. 1 Construction Co. But he let Cui slide. Later, to express gratitude, Cui presented Fan with 50,000 yuan.

Cui used the same trick a year later and won the building contract for the Guiyang Opera House. Fan played along.

After steel prices jumped in late 2003, Cui asked Fan to coordinate with No. 1 Construction to share the higher costs. Fan's maneuvering worked, and an official document was issued in January 2004 that required steel price hikes to be shouldered by the main contractor – No. 1 Construction. So between Spring Festival 2003 and Mid-Autumn Festival 2004, investigators say, Fan received a total 130,000 yuan from Cui.

In 2006, a year after becoming director of the Jinyang New District Authority and the mayor's assistant, Fan helped Cui win yet another project: relocating a farming village and erecting a new housing project using the name Guiyang City No. 2 Housing Development Co. In exchange, Fan received 700,000 yuan from Cui in four tranches between Mid-Autumn Festival 2007 and early 2008.

In another spate of graft, investigators said Lan Yong, legal representative for the Guizhou Lingda Real Estate Developing Holdings Co. Ltd., sent gift money to Fan on major holidays and his birthdays every year from 1999 to 2006, when he paused long enough to seek a favor in return. The investment paid off; Fan helped Lan win two housing projects for relocated farmers. Lan returned the favor with 200,000 yuan in 2008.  

Fan once told investigators that developers gave him "not regular currency but money that led to hell". Indeed, all that wealth has done him little good in detention.

Meanwhile, contract manipulation has been blamed for pushing local housing prices sky-high. Fan's contracts-for-cash policy apparently contributed to housing inflation in Guiyang.

1 yuan = 14 U.S. cents

Full article in Chinese: http://magazine.caijing.com.cn/2009-10-10/110278125.html