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Li Zaiyong, who had served as secretary of the Liupanshui Municipal Party Committee, secretary of the Guiyang Municipal Party Committee, vice governor of Guizhou Province, and vice chairman of the Guizhou Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, stood in the dock of the Chongqing Fifth Intermediate People's Court more than a year after being investigated.

According to CCTV News, on August 13, the Fifth Intermediate People's Court of Chongqing publicly sentenced Li Zaiyong for taking bribes and abusing his power.

The court found that Li Zaiyong had been accepting bribes for 25 years, from the level of deputy director to the vice-provincial level, and he was still accumulating wealth until he was investigated. He accepted bribes of more than 432 million yuan (most of which he did not actually obtain). During his tenure as the mayor of Liupanshui, he abused his power and caused ecological damage totaling more than 86.45 million yuan in losses.

The court sentenced him to death with a two-year reprieve for the crime of accepting bribes, and sentenced him to seven years in prison for the crime of abuse of power. Li Zaiyong was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, deprivation of political rights for life, and confiscation of all personal property.

Pictured: the court trial scene

He accepted bribes for 25 years, from being a director to a vice-provincial level official

Li Zaiyong, 62 years old this year, was born in 1962. He is a member of the Gelao ethnic group and a native of Wuchuan, Guizhou. He is a local cadre trained by Guizhou Province and has been working in Guizhou for nearly 40 years.

He has served as mayor of Guiyang and secretary of the Liupanshui Municipal Party Committee. In December 2016, he was appointed member of the Standing Committee of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee, reaching the rank of vice-provincial level. One month later, he also served as secretary-general of the provincial party committee.

In August 2017, Li Zaiyong took charge of the provincial capital and served as member of the Standing Committee of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Guiyang Municipal Party Committee.

In January 2018, Li Zaiyong was appointed as the deputy secretary of the Party Leadership Group and deputy governor of the Guizhou Provincial Government. In May of that year, he resigned as secretary of the Guiyang Municipal Party Committee. In January 2022, he was elected as the vice chairman of the Guizhou Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and resigned as a member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee in April.

In January 2023, Li Zaiyong resigned from his posts as vice governor of Guizhou Province and vice chairman of the Provincial CPPCC. In March, he led a team to conduct research in many places as a member of the Party Leadership Group of the Guizhou Provincial CPPCC. He was investigated while in office on March 27.

On November 7, 2023, Li Zaiyong was expelled from the Party and removed from public office by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission. The notice stated that Li Zaiyong had a distorted view of political achievements and a misplaced view of power, seriously deviated from the major decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee, failed to implement the new development concept, engaged in "political achievement projects" that cost the people money and time, and recklessly raised debt financing in violation of regulations, causing major debt risks and seriously damaging the local ecological environment; he had long been engaged in superstitious activities; he had long been obsessed with gambling; he had engaged in power-for-money transactions, etc.

Today, the court ruled at the first instance that Li Zaiyong was guilty of two crimes, one of which was bribery, with the amount of bribes reaching more than 432 million yuan.

The court verdict shows: From 1998 to 2023, the defendant Li Zaiyong used the convenience of his positions as secretary of the Honghuagang District Committee of Zunyi City, Guizhou Province, member of the Standing Committee of the Qiandongnan Prefecture Committee and deputy governor, deputy secretary of the Tongren Prefectural Committee and commissioner of the Administrative Office, deputy secretary of the Guiyang Municipal Committee and mayor, secretary of the Liupanshui Municipal Committee, member of the Standing Committee of the Guizhou Provincial Committee and secretary-general, member of the Standing Committee of the Guizhou Provincial Committee and secretary of the Guiyang Municipal Committee, member of the Standing Committee of the Guizhou Provincial Committee and deputy governor, and other convenient conditions formed by his power or status to provide assistance to relevant individuals in matters such as engineering contracting, land acquisition, project planning and approval, and illegally accepted property totaling more than 432 million yuan, most of which was not actually obtained.

It is worth noting that Li Zaiyong took bribes for 25 years, from the level of deputy director to the vice-provincial level, and he continued to amass wealth until he was investigated. Most of the bribes were not actually obtained by him, which is a typical manifestation of "option corruption."

According to the official website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission, the so-called "option corruption" refers to the use of power by leading cadres to seek benefits for others while in office, without seeking immediate "rewards", but according to private "agreements" to cash in various forms after leaving office or retiring. Under the high-pressure situation of anti-corruption, some party members and cadres who do not restrain themselves, do not stop, and do not know when to stop use time to make an agreement with the person who asks for help to "do the work first, and the money and materials will be discussed after leaving office or retiring", in an attempt to cover up corruption with a cloak of invisibility. Retirement rewards, job transfers, and benefits after leaving office, even if the means of "option corruption" are concealed and the methods are refurbished, they cannot cover up the essence of power-for-money transactions.

Li Zaiyong fantasized about the "option" bribes he would enjoy after retirement, but they landed him in jail. As Xiang Hongqiong, former director of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee of the Guizhou Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said in a video released by the "Mirror" column on the website of the Guizhou Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision, "What do I need this kind of money that I can't hold, can't sleep, and is only useful for trials?"

When he was in charge of Liupanshui, he promoted the construction of 23 tourism projects, 16 of which were inefficient and idle.

Another crime committed by Li Zaiyong was abuse of power.

The court verdict shows that from 2014 to 2017, while serving as secretary of the Liupanshui Municipal Party Committee and director of the Municipal Urban and Rural Planning and Construction Committee, Li Zaiyong violated laws and regulations, forced the construction of relevant tourism development projects, and abused his power to cause ecological damage resulting in losses of more than RMB 86.45 million.

What tourism development project caused such serious losses?

The annual anti-corruption documentary "Continuous Efforts to Advance Deeply" broadcasted by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in January this year revealed the inside story of how Li Zaiyong abused his power and caused ecological damage during his tenure in Liupanshui. During his tenure, Li Zaiyong promoted the construction of 23 tourism projects, 16 of which have been listed as inefficient and idle projects by Guizhou Province. Each of these projects looks large and contiguous from a distance; when you get closer, some are sparsely populated and deserted; some are stagnant and locked; some are even half-finished projects with overgrown weeds.

During his tenure, Li Zaiyong promoted the construction of 23 tourism projects, 16 of which have been listed as inefficient and idle projects by Guizhou Province (video screenshot)

The common characteristics of these inefficient and idle projects are that they blindly pursue size and speed without any justification, which results in them being out of touch with the actual market customer base and consumption power.

The Meihua Mountain Ski Complex project, which Li Zaiyong attached the most importance to, is a typical example. He claimed to build the "Skiing Capital of Western China", and did not consider that Liupanshui only had a ski season of more than one month, nor did he consider that Liupanshui already had two ski resorts. He still decided to build the Meihua Mountain Ski Complex, which includes 29 sub-projects, and borrowed more than 3 billion yuan, of which more than 900 million yuan was spent on building the "No. 1 Cableway in Asia" of nearly 10,000 meters. Now, except for the more than one month in winter, there are few tourists and it is difficult to move forward. According to investigations, the direct economic losses caused by the ecological environment damage caused by the construction of the Meihua Mountain Ski Resort alone amounted to more than 86 million yuan.

In order to build these projects, Li Zaiyong blindly borrowed money without considering the actual financial carrying capacity of the local government. The debt interest alone caused a heavy loss of more than 900 million yuan to the country. During his three years in power in Liupanshui, the local government's new debt reached more than 150 billion yuan, and the debt growth rate from 2013 to 2017 exceeded 300%, leaving an extremely heavy burden on the local area.

Li Zaiyong confessed in the film: "If I had to pay back the money I borrowed, I would definitely not borrow it. But since the government has to pay it back, I borrowed it. Anyway, I will be replaced in a few years and leave. Whoever takes over will take the responsibility. It feels like passing the buck."

Li Zaiyong confesses on camera (video screenshot)

After being arrested, he took the initiative to confess most of the facts of taking bribes that the investigating authorities had not yet grasped.

The court verdict shows that after Li Zaiyong was arrested, he took the initiative to confess the facts of abuse of power that the supervisory authority had not yet grasped.

The Fifth Intermediate People's Court of Chongqing held that the defendant Li Zaiyong's actions constituted the crime of accepting bribes and the crime of abusing his power. Li Zaiyong accepted bribes of an extremely large amount, the circumstances of the crime were extremely serious, the social impact was extremely bad, and he caused extremely heavy losses to the interests of the state and the people. He should be sentenced to death for his crimes; he abused his power, causing heavy losses to public property, the interests of the state and the people, and should also be punished according to law, and punished concurrently with the crime of accepting bribes.

Considering that most of Li Zaiyong's bribery was attempted, he confessed his crimes truthfully after being arrested, and took the initiative to explain most of the facts of bribery that the investigating authorities had not yet grasped; he abused his power and surrendered himself; he reported other people's criminal acts, which were verified to be true, and he made great contributions; he admitted his guilt and repented, actively returned the stolen money, and most of the stolen money and property had been seized and brought to justice, and he had multiple statutory and discretionary mitigating circumstances, the death penalty for the crime of bribery he committed may not be executed immediately; and he can be given a lighter punishment for the crime of abuse of power. The court then made the above judgment.

Source: CCTV News, Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and National Supervisory Commission

Written by: Southern Metropolis Daily reporter Liang Jianzhong