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Thursday, 26 February 2009
Desire for greatness led to downfall, writes jailed pension funds chief
One of the key figures in Shanghai’s pensions scandal has written about how his ambition to be “No 1 in the nation” turned into a destructive force that wrecked his life and damaged the reputation of his bureau.
Desire for greatness led to downfall, writes jailed pension funds chief
Will Clem and Lilian Zhang in Shanghai 25 February 2009
One of the key figures in Shanghai’s pensions scandal has written about how his ambition to be “No 1 in the nation” turned into a destructive force that wrecked his life and damaged the reputation of his bureau.
The public self-criticism, published in the Legal Daily and distributed by Xinhua, is seen by some as a move to focus public opinion on the fight against corruption ahead of next week’s National People’s Congress session.
Writing from his prison cell, Zhu Junyi, disgraced former head of the city’s pension fund, told how the desire for personal stature had seduced him when he entered his 50s, a desire that was driven by his failure to reach the upper echelon of the party ranks.
“I suddenly had a desire to create a glorious achievement that would surpass all other departments, surpass all other people and use that achievement to make everyone recognise once more my talents and capable thinking,” Zhu wrote.
This change in values set him on a road to crime that gradually led to him treating public pension funds as capital for his own private enterprises - something for which he said he was now “exceedingly regretful”.
Changchun No1 Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Zhu to 18 years in jail for bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power in September 2007.
The court found that he had accepted nearly 1.7 million yuan (HK$1.9 million) in bribes and misused 1.3 billion yuan in public funds while handling the city’s 30 billion yuan pension fund.
Hu Xingdou, professor of economics at the Beijing Institute of Technology and an expert on national issues, said he felt the timing of the release of Zhu’s self-criticism was an attempt by the central government to highlight successes in the fight against corruption ahead of the NPC meeting, to open on March 5.
“This also shows their concerns over the occurrence of corruption when China has invested huge amounts of money to boost the economy amid the financial crisis,” Professor Hu said.
Releasing corrupt officials’ self-criticisms to the media is an established practice to “alarm and educate” the public on the issue.
“The Communist Party of China has always placed emphasis on anti-corruption education,” he said. “By doing this, Zhu is likely to get his jail term reduced.”
However, Professor Hu said he doubted the move would have much impact on public attitudes towards corruption.
“Only a small amount of corruption cases are really investigated, so many still think it’s normal to escape from penalty,” he said.
“Even if Zhu was really regretful, others will not share the same feeling. The authorities should still strengthen supervision and governance in order to prevent corruption.”
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Desire for greatness led to downfall, writes jailed pension funds chief
Will Clem and Lilian Zhang in Shanghai
25 February 2009
One of the key figures in Shanghai’s pensions scandal has written about how his ambition to be “No 1 in the nation” turned into a destructive force that wrecked his life and damaged the reputation of his bureau.
The public self-criticism, published in the Legal Daily and distributed by Xinhua, is seen by some as a move to focus public opinion on the fight against corruption ahead of next week’s National People’s Congress session.
Writing from his prison cell, Zhu Junyi, disgraced former head of the city’s pension fund, told how the desire for personal stature had seduced him when he entered his 50s, a desire that was driven by his failure to reach the upper echelon of the party ranks.
“I suddenly had a desire to create a glorious achievement that would surpass all other departments, surpass all other people and use that achievement to make everyone recognise once more my talents and capable thinking,” Zhu wrote.
This change in values set him on a road to crime that gradually led to him treating public pension funds as capital for his own private enterprises - something for which he said he was now “exceedingly regretful”.
Changchun No1 Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Zhu to 18 years in jail for bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power in September 2007.
The court found that he had accepted nearly 1.7 million yuan (HK$1.9 million) in bribes and misused 1.3 billion yuan in public funds while handling the city’s 30 billion yuan pension fund.
Hu Xingdou, professor of economics at the Beijing Institute of Technology and an expert on national issues, said he felt the timing of the release of Zhu’s self-criticism was an attempt by the central government to highlight successes in the fight against corruption ahead of the NPC meeting, to open on March 5.
“This also shows their concerns over the occurrence of corruption when China has invested huge amounts of money to boost the economy amid the financial crisis,” Professor Hu said.
Releasing corrupt officials’ self-criticisms to the media is an established practice to “alarm and educate” the public on the issue.
“The Communist Party of China has always placed emphasis on anti-corruption education,” he said. “By doing this, Zhu is likely to get his jail term reduced.”
However, Professor Hu said he doubted the move would have much impact on public attitudes towards corruption.
“Only a small amount of corruption cases are really investigated, so many still think it’s normal to escape from penalty,” he said.
“Even if Zhu was really regretful, others will not share the same feeling. The authorities should still strengthen supervision and governance in order to prevent corruption.”
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