At The Los Angeles Times, Julie Makinen reports that the Beijing Youth Daily has printed an infographic to inform readers about a corruption case involving the deputy director of the coal division of the National Energy Administration, Wei Pengyuan:
Wei, deputy director of the coal division of the National Energy Administration, was found with 100 million renminbi — $16 million — at his home, the financial news publication Caixin reported this week, citing unnamed investigators.
Since the 100-renminbi note is the largest-denomination bill in circulation, that means that Wei’s alleged stash presented a bit of a storage problem. Such a hoard, if stacked in one tall tower, would reach 328 feet high, the Youth Daily said. Laid out end to end, the haul would stretch 96 miles — the length of Beijing’s Third Ring Road and Fifth Ring Road combined.
Investigators had to bring in 16 cash-counting machines to tally the money, Caixin said; four of the devices — which can process 1,000 bills per minute — burned out in the process.
How exactly Wei kept his cash wasn’t disclosed, but other officials with large piles of money have gotten creative. In recent years, Chinese media have reported on a provincial party secretary found with 25 million renminbi in safe deposit boxes; a former provincial construction chief who hid 20 million renminbi in a hollow tree trunk, a toilet and a rice field; and an ex-highway bureau boss who kept 2.8 million renminbi in a trash dump. [Source]
Read more about the Chinese state media’s censorship instructions regarding Wei Pengyuan via CDT. Also, read about Xi Jinping’s ongoing anti-corruption campaign via CDT.
