This was a complex case, involving more than 477 dossiers of related documents. Yet the trial was executed with astonishing efficiency and concluded in less than half a day.

[…] Liu accepted all charges and pleaded for leniency in punishment with a tearful statement. He even made reference to the trending concept of the Chinese dream, a telling example of how deeply he understood the Chinese characteristics in rule of law – for him the only possible way to avoid death is pleasing the top leaders.

[…] The debate was red-hot outside the courtroom. Will Liu receive the death penalty? From the level of cooperation he demonstrated on trial, his life should be spared this time. But then how will large bribery cases be dealt with in the future? Secondly, in the eyes of the legal community, there is an ethics issue. Can a Chinese-style show trial bring justice? The stance prosecutors took by the end of the trial was suspicious, and it’s an open question as to whether judges had a clear grasp of the case. [Source]

The prosecutors’ “suspicious” stance was a request for leniency, which has infuriated netizens eager for harsh punishment. Ding also notes the discovery that the charges against Liu appear to reflect only a tiny portion of his illicit gains, which reportedly included over $140 million and almost 350 apartments. From Cary Huang at South China Morning Post:

On trial at Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court on Sunday, Liu was accused of using his position of influence to help business associates win promotions and project contracts, and of accepting 64.6 million yuan in unspecified bribes between 1986 and 2011, according to an indictment reported by the official Xinhua News Agency.

But the [Beijing] Times reported yesterday that in other cases related to Liu’s abuse of his official power, officials had also seized large amounts of cash in various currencies. These include 795.5 million yuan, HK$85 million, US$235,000 and 2.2 million euro (HK$22.5 million). Also recovered were other assets, such as shares, vehicles, flats and other valuables, according to the report.

The report did not explain why those assets were not included in the charges against Liu. [Source]

One Sina Weibo user quipped that these revelations made Liu “the first high-ranking official to publicly declare his assets”, referring to popular demands for transparency regulations like those recently introduced in Macau. But even as the government acknowledges the problem of official corruption and vows to bring its perpetrators to justice, a number of activists campaigning for asset disclosure have been detained in recent months, prompting protests from human rights organizations. From SCMP’s Cary Huang:

The China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group, Committee to Support Chinese Lawyers, Front Line Defenders, Human Rights Watch and Independent Chinese PEN called on the central government to release the detainees and drop all charges against them. They said the detentions cast doubt on President Xi Jinping’s commitment to cracking down on government corruption.

Since May 7, 10 of the 15 activists detained had been formally arrested, indicating they were likely to be prosecuted and convicted, the right groups said. The charges against the 15 include illegal assembly, inciting subversion of state power, disturbing social order and extortion. The crime of inciting subversion carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, while the other crimes have maximum penalties of five years in prison.

[…] “When President Xi Jinping calls for a tough response to corruption, it’s hailed as innovative policy, but when ordinary people say the same in public, his government regards it as subversion,” Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch, said. [Source]

See more on these cases at Human Rights Watch, and on Liu Zhijun and corruption via CDT.

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China’s former railways minister, Liu Zhijun, went on trial on Sunday charged with corruption and abuse of power, state media said, in a case demonstrating President Xi Jinping’s resolve to crack down on pervasive graft.

State radio said the trial had begun at a Beijing courthouse under heavy security. If found guilty, he could face the death penalty or life in jail.

[...]He took advantage of his position and helped 11 people to either get promotions or win contracts, accepting 64.6 million yuan ($10.53 million) in bribes from them in return between 1986 and 2011, the official Xinhua news agency reported. [Source]

State media broadcasts of the trial [zh] show Liu answering questions before the court as evidence is displayed on a projection screen overhead. The South China Morning Post notes prosecutors’ uncharacteristic suggestion for a lenient sentence, and the concerns of a human rights lawyer that the verdict will come by the will of party leadership rather than by the rule of law:

The hearing was unusual as Qian Lieyang, Liu’s lawyer, said the prosecutors had proactively suggested a more lenient sentence to the former railways minister during the trial because Liu had confessed all his crimes during the detention and helped to recover most of the corrupted money.

“The prosecutors asked the judges to give a leniency to Liu even before I asked for it,” said Qian, who told the South China Morning Post on Friday that he would be pleading for a “more lenient sentence”.

[...]“I’m fairly disappointed as it is a fake trial as usual,” said Pu Zhiqiang, a prominent Beijing-based human rights lawyer. “No doubt the court and the procuratorate had the endorsement of the party’s disciplinary authorities, and will announce the verdict based on the willingness of the leaders but not the law.”

He also questioned why the hearing took just under half a day to process, despite the complexity of the case. [Source]

The Morning Post also notes that Liu is the highest-level official to stand in such a trial since Chen Liangyu, the former Shanghai party chief who was sentenced to 18 years for corruption charges in 2008.

Liu’s trial comes as China’s new leadership is in the midst of cracking-down on corruption in all levels of the party.  Part of government moves to battle corruption include government restructuring plans, and it was announced earlier this year that the Ministry of Railways would be split into administrative and managerial arms. While China boasts the world’s largest and busiest high-speed rail network, corruption has long been noted within its governing ministry. For a detailed account of how the July 2011 Wenzhou train crash revealed the railway network as ”an ecosystem almost perfectly hospitable to corruption,” see Evan Osnos’ report in the New Yorker (via CDT). Also see Caixin on Liu and the ministry’s “complicated web of graft” (also via CDT).

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Central Propaganda Department: In reporting on the case of former Minister of Railways Liu Zhijun (including the charges against him, the trial, the verdict, etc.), strictly follow Xinhua wire copy. No media outlet or website is to independently produce other reports or commentary. (April 10, 2013)

中宣部：对前铁道部部长刘志军案有关问题（包括提起公诉、开庭审理、宣判等）的报道严格按新华社通稿刊播，各媒体及网站不自行做其他报道和评论。

Liu, who was removed from his post in early 2011, has been formally charged with graft. He could face the death penalty. The Ministry of Railways will be dismantled as part of broad government restructuring announced at the National People’s Congress.

Chinese journalists and bloggers often refer to these instructions as “Directives from the Ministry of Truth.” CDT has collected the selections we translate here from a variety of sources and has checked them against official Chinese media reports to confirm their implementation.

Since directives are sometimes communicated orally to journalists and editors, who then leak them online, the wording published here may not be exact. The original publication date on CDT Chinese is noted after the directives; the date given may indicate when the directive was leaked, rather than when it was issued. CDT does its utmost to verify dates and wording, but also takes precautions to protect the source.

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Liu faces either a lengthy jail sentence or possibly death. How severely he is dealt with will be an indicator of how seriously new Chinese President Xi Jinping Xi takes his fight on corruption, one of the pillars of his new administration

Liu “practiced favoritism and carried out malpractice, misused his power and caused big losses to public property and the interests of the state and the people”, the official Xinhua news agency said.

“The second intermediate Beijing court has already accepted the bribery and misuse of power case in accordance with the law and will chose a date for a trial,” the news agency said.

“As a worker for the state, Liu Zhijun used his position to help others seek gain, illegally accepted wealth and assets from other people. The numbers involved were huge and the circumstances very serious,” Xinhua added.

Read more about corruption in the Ministry of Railways in an article by Evan Osnos in the New Yorker, via CDT.

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While the report hinted that Mr Bo’s day in court could be approaching, Xinhua failed to give a date or location for the trial or any further details.

Online, there was speculation that the announcement was simply a ruse to divert media attention from an ongoing row over press freedom that has now seen three days of protests in southeast China.

However, Willy Lam, a politics expert from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said Mr Bo’s trial could well be held in February.

“I think there are good reasons to wrap it up before the National People’s Congress [NPC] in March,” he said. “I think there is a good chance the judicial process will begin, perhaps after the Chinese New Year. They don’t want the Bo case to be a distraction at the NPC and I think they have already collected enough evidence.” Mr Bo, the former party chief of Chongqing, was toppled from power in early 2012 in the aftermath of the mysterious death of British businessman Neil Heywood.

The government announced a criminal investigation into alleged wrongdoing by Bo in September, before the Party leadership transition in November, but there has been no information about Bo’s case since then. From the Hindu:

With the CPC completing its once-in-a-decade leadership change at its November Party Congress, the case against Mr. Bo was put on the back-burner: the purge of the leader had embarrassed the party — lifting the veil on the abuses of power and rampant corruption in its highest ranks — only weeks before the transfer of power to the party’s fifth generation of leaders. Mr. Bo, the son of a once powerful conservative Party elder, Bo Yibo, was seen as having allies who had ties to his father and had supporters on the Left.

In the first indication since the Party Congress that the trial of Mr. Bo may be imminent, the official Xinhua news agency said in a report on Wednesday that the “serious law violation case” involving Mr. Bo had been transferred “to judicial organs”. The report did not give a date for the trial, which is expected to take place in Beijing.

The report, quoting Central Committee of Discipline Inspection spokesman Cui Shaopeng, added that “a total of 4,698 county-level cadres or higher-level cadres were punished by CPC’s discipline watchdogs in 2012 and 961 cadres at county-level or above have been transferred to judicial organs”.

Read more about Bo Xilai and Liu Zhijun via CDT.

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Though he had already been booted from the CCP in late September, the Central Committee reviewed the investigation into disgraced former Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai and endorsed his expulsion on Sunday. From The New York Times:

The decision to expel Mr. Bo signaled that top leaders had reached a consensus on this delicate issue. Mr. Bo had been a contender for one of the party’s highest positions until his spectacular fall this year and still had support among some party members. Among the accusations against him are that he abused his power, took large bribes and hindered a police investigation into the death of a British businessman. Mr. Bo’s wife was convicted of the Briton’s murder in August. Mr. Bo, who has been incommunicado since his detention in March, is expected to stand trial in the coming months.

While stripping Bo of his membership in both the party and the National People’s Congress was believed to have paved the way for his criminal trial, two of Bo’s family-appointed lawyers told Reuters on Monday that they had no idea when his trial would start:

Two lawyers hired by Bo’s family, Li Xiaolin and Shen Zhigeng, told Reuters that nearly two weeks after the official announcement of the criminal investigation, they had not been given permission to either see him or represent him.

“Of course not,” Shen said, when asked whether he had seen Bo. “The confirmation (I can represent Bo) hasn’t been verified. So how can we see (him)?”

Shen said the trial will be after a key Communist Party congress opening on Thursday in Beijing that will usher in a generational leadership change, and which has been overshadowed by the Bo scandal.

“I do not know,” Shen said, referring to when the trial may start, but added that it will be “after the 18th Party Congress.”

The Central Committee also officially approved the party’s decision to expel former Railways Minister Liu Zhijun, who was removed from his ministerial post in early 2011 and then finally cast out of the party in May amid allegations of corruption. But not everyone received bad news on Sunday, as generals Xu Qiliang and Fan Changlong received promotions to the upper echelon of China’s armed forces. From Bloomberg:

Fan is commander of the PLA’s Jinan Military Area Command, according to the government’s website www.gov.cn. Xu is commander of the PLA’s air force. Fan is 65 and Xu is 62, according to biographical details provided by Xinhua.

Huang Jing, a professor of political science at National University of Singapore, said Xu Qiliang “is professional and enjoys great respect from PLA officers.”

Xu’s advancement may be a sign that the PLA is moving to more “joint” operations among the army, navy and air force because most past vice chairmen have been army officers, said Taylor Fravel, a political science professor specializing in China at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Fan was named a vice chairman after not having served on the commission. He is “a real professional, with extensive command experience,” Fravel said. Xu was a member of the commission prior to yesterday’s announcement.

The Wall Street Journal points out that the Xinhua News announcement of the military promotions gave no hint as to whether outgoing president Hu Jintao would also step down as chairman of the military’s ruling body during the 18th Party Congress, which begins Thursday, but analysts called it a sign that Hu would remain commander-in-chief following the leadership shuffle. From AFP:

Hu, the CMC chairman, is set to step down as head of the ruling party at a congress starting this week and will retire as national president in March as part of the leadership change.

But Willy Lam, a China politics expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said: “Hu Jintao would want to serve another five years (as CMC chief), particularly given the fact that he has to watch over his political proteges… and protect his political legacy.”

“As long as he is the CMC chief, he will still be the power behind the throne.”

See also previous CDT coverage of the 18th Party Congress and China’s once-a-decade leadership transition, including the last-minute wrangling reportedly taking place over the incoming membership of the Politburo Standing Committee.

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Post tags: 18th party congress, Bo Xilai, CCP 5th generation, Central Military Commission, corruption, Fan Changlong, Hu Jintao, leadership transition, Liu Zhijun, Politburo Standing Committee, Xu Qiliang
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The Wenzhou crash killed forty people and injured a hundred and ninety-two. For reasons both practical and symbolic, the government was desperate to get trains running again, and within twenty-four hours it declared the line back in business. The Department of Propaganda ordered editors to give the crash as little attention as possible. “Do not question, do not elaborate,” it warned, on an internal notice. When newspapers came out the next morning, China’s first high-speed train wreck was not on the front page.

But, instead of moving on, the public wanted to know what had happened, and why. This was not a bus plunging off a road in a provincial outpost; it was dozens of men and women dying on one of the nation’s proudest achievements—in a newly wired age, when passengers had cell phones and witnesses and critics finally had the tools to humiliate the propagandists.

People demanded to know why a two-year-old survivor was found in the wreckage after rescuers had called off the search. A railway spokesman said it was “a miracle.” Critics jeered, calling his explanation an “insult to the intelligence of the Chinese people.” At one point, the authorities dug a hole and buried part of the ruined train, saying they needed firm ground for recovery efforts. When reporters accused them of trying to thwart an investigation, a hapless spokesman replied, “Whether or not you believe it, I believe it,” a phrase that took flight on the Internet as an emblem of the government’s vanishing credibility. (The train was exhumed. The spokesman was relieved of his duties and was last seen working in Poland.)

Within days, the state-owned company that produced the signal box apologized for mistakes in its design. But to many in China the focus on a single broken part overlooked the likely role of a deeper problem underlying China’s rise: a pervasive corruption and moral disregard that had already led to milk tainted by chemicals reaching the market, and shoddy bridges and highways built hastily in order to meet political targets. A host on state television, Qiu Qiming, became the unlikely voice of the moment when he broke away from his script to ask, on the air, “Can we drink a glass of milk that is safe? Can we stay in an apartment that will not fall apart? Can we travel roads in our cities that will not collapse?”

Osnos’ report is full of previously unreported details and is well worth reading in its entirety. See also a recent article in National Geographic by Ian Johnson (via CDT) about China’s high-speed rail system. Read more about the Wenzhou train crash, former Minister of Railways Liu Zhijun and about corruption in China, via CDT.

Update: Charlie Rose interviews Osnos about his article, the significance of the Wenzhou train crash, corruption in China, and the upcoming leadership transition.

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The project symbolizes China’s 21st-century aspirations: High-speed trains are a national priority for China, with 10,000 miles (160,000 kilometers) of lines due to link 24 cities by 2020. Since the program got under way in 2007, half of the lines have been built, with another major north-south artery the length of the country set to open later this year. It’s an engineering blitzkrieg meant to awe the Chinese people and show off the nation’s new industrial might.

Less impressive have been the costs—financial and human. Last year two events happened that continue to shake the railway system and China as a whole. One was the detention of China’s once powerful railway minister, Liu Zhijun, an old-style communist central planner who rolled out the high-speed network like a general using human-wave tactics.

Thousands of work teams were deployed to blast open mountains, bridge gullies, and pave over the countryside. But investigations show that Liu’s methods were based on massive corruption, and he himself is accused of graft and “sexual misconduct.”

The other event that has caused a broader rethink of China’s development path was a terrifying crash of two high-speed trains last year near the city of Wenzhou. The crash has come to symbolize the ruling Communist Party’s development-at-all-costs strategy. One commentator said on national television that China was “leaving the souls of the people behind.” As one crash survivor told me: “Where is happiness? Is it only in statistics and numbers?”

The article is accompanied by a slideshow of photos by Michael Yamashita. Read more about high-speed trains and the train crash in Wenzhou in 2011 via CDT.

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A graft investigation into former railways minister Liu Zhijun that started in February 2011 has concluded with the ministry issuing a document on August 3 that lists six disciplinary violations Liu committed.

The internal ministry notice sheds light on the complicated network of graft that functioned in China’s Ministry of Railways. The charges against Liu include corruption and sexual misconduct.

Several of the charges were connected to a close associate, Shaanxi businesswoman Ding Shumiao. Ministry prosecutors say Liu helped Ding secure supply contracts worth 3 billion yuan and allowed middlemen to take kickbacks during contract procurement.

The investigation into Ding, which started in January 2011, is also finished, a source close to the inquiry said. The amount of kickbacks that Liu and Ding shared will be a key factor in determining the money involved in Liu’s graft charges, a source close to the situation said. [...]

On his Sinocism blog, Bill Bishop notes that the Caixin English piece is an abridged translation of the cover story from this week’s Caixin Century magazine [zh], and that it lacks the sexy and scandalous introduction that can be found in the original.

In a piece citing Caixin’s research, Hong Kong’s The Standard has more on the Railway Ministry’s report and on Ding Shumiao:

[The Ministry document] alleges Liu, 59, received an undetermined amount of money in bribes, with the most serious being 10 million yuan (HK$12.16 million) he allegedly pocketed from businesswoman Ding Shumiao’s company, Beijing Boyou Investment Management Corp.

The firm won a 3 billion yuan high speed rail project bid.

Ding, 57, also called Ding Yuxin, is chairwoman of the company.

She was also a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference before being expelled last January for alleged bribery.

It is alleged that Ding was involved in several bribery cases including the high-speed rail project and the transportation of coal.

The assets of her company soared from 474 million yuan in 2008 to 4.5 billion yuan in 2010.

For more on corrupt officials, China’s railroad system, and the case of Liu Zhijun, see prior CDT coverage.

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State media in recent days have begun running new reports that flesh out the alleged deeds of 59-year-old Liu Zhijun, one of the most senior members of China’s Communist Party to face corruption allegations. That has fueled speculation from analysts that Mr. Liu’s court date is approaching.

In May, Mr. Liu was removed from the Party for what was described as “severe violations of discipline,” watchwords that typically indicate a fallen party official is likely to face prosecution by China’s civilian courts. Now, the state-run Xinhua news agency is detailing the alleged bribe-taking.

[…] Though perhaps less sensational, a trial of Mr. Liu is also significant for China. Accusations that the head of the Ministry of Railways took bribes are no less than an indictment of the management of one of China’s biggest public works projects, including what Xinhua said was 2 trillion yuan of railroad construction during Mr. Liu’s tenure.

An editorial in the Economic Observer on Monday described the enormous extent of the ministry’s “private kingdom”, arguing that this has helped foster corruption and nepotism. As an example, it noted the rapid rise of Liu’s younger brother to become director-general of the Wuhan Bureau of Railways.

Nepotism certainly isn’t rare in Chinese society. Complex “family trees” within political agencies at the town and county level in rural China are commonplace. However, these local fiefdoms don’t come close to the scale of the national railway system, which covers the entire country. The complexity of the railway’s nepotism comes from its ability to function in a self-contained environment where it’s almost separated itself completely from China’s social system and has become a “sub-system” or “sub-society.”

[…] The Ministry of Railways has exerted its influence on public security agencies, procuratorates, and courts. Its reach can also be felt in ideological outlets (television, newspapers, periodicals, book publication, cultural and art troupes), business (machinery, real estate, construction, tourism, logistics, broad-band networks, advertising, catering services, foreign trade), and public services (hospitals and schools).

[…] Nepotism and cronyism breed in the vastness and omnipotence of an independent “sub-society.” Overly-intertwined relationships and other maladies become unavoidable if the larger system stays unchanged. If you want to change the status quo, the first step is to attack the problem at its root.

See a previous post about Liu Zhijun, ‘CCP Casts Out Former Railway Minister’, and more on China’s railways via CDT.

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Chinese leaders enjoy a level of privacy unheard of in the West; the often vast business and political dealings of their families are shrouded in mystery by design. Only when Chongqing party boss Bo Xilai fell from grace in March did he expose himself to scrutiny from the outside world, illuminating the web of connections that bound him and his family to global business and political interests.

[...]In recent years, only the Bo clan has had its affairs ingloriously paraded in front of the international media — the  business ties of top leaders like President Hu Jintao and his successor Xi Jinping remain mostly unknown. But here are four senior Chinese leaders whose web of connections have already been probed, and whose full exposure would most increase the outside world’s understanding of how the system works. [...]

In a post for China Realtime Report, Stanley Lubman explains how internal corruption is dealt with in China. As can be seen by Liu Zhijun’s recent expulsion from the CCP, and by the ongoing investigation of Bo Xilai, party members are subject to their own separate legal system:

There are two parallel systems in China to punish criminal conduct, one for Communist Party members and the other, the formal criminal process. When a party member is suspected of a crime, it is the party’s own investigation that comes first.

[...]In theory, CCP members who commit crimes will be turned over to the procuracy or police and the courts for criminal prosecution after initially being punished internally by the party’s own Commissions for Discipline Inspection (CDI). In practice, this happens in only a small minority of cases, and Party officials have the final say over the courts’ dispositions of those cases – a stark illustration of the Party’s influence over the criminal justice system.

[...]China’s leadership has consistently proclaimed that Chinese law must have “Chinese characteristics,” but that is a contradiction: Legal institutions remain subject to party control despite the ideal of the rule of law that is stated in the Chinese constitution.

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The disciplinary watchdog said Liu had taken advantage of his position to help Ding Yuxin, board chairwoman of Beijing Boyou Investment Management Corp, make huge illicit gains.

He was also charged with accepting a large number of bribes and leading a corrupt life.

His illicit gains have been confiscated and he will be handed over to the judicial department for further investigation. His disciplinary violations may include criminal acts, the watchdog said.

Lin Zhe, a professor at the Party School of the Central Committee of the CPC who specializes in fighting corruption, said Liu will probably face severe punishment.

“Expelling Liu from the Party means his political life has ended,” she said, adding such punishment for an official is very heavy.

However, Lin added Liu’s case will not be brought to court any time soon, “because the case is complicated”, and more time is needed to investigate.

Removal from the Communist Party “virtually guarantees a conviction,” according to The Associated Press. The drama surrounding Liu’s sudden ouster in February 2011 has since been overshadowed by the demise of former Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai, but today’s news provides hints as to how the Bo case may play out. The Wall Street Journal reports:

The handling of the railway minister’s case serves as a reminder of the steps the party traditionally takes when disciplining senior officials. It clears a politically charged case from the party’s agenda ahead of a leadership shuffle that has been complicated by the drama around Mr. Bo.

…

A secret process of internal review and discipline by the party precedes any judicial prosecution a top official might face. The status of Mr. Bo’s case is unknown but the party has said he is under investigation. In theory, the party’s maximum penalty is expulsion. But its handling of a case is thought by analysts to greatly influence the outcome of any subsequent judicial process.

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The protest erupted outside the ministry’s fortress-like entrance across from the Defense Ministry here. More than 100 demobilized soldiers and their families chanted slogans accusing the ministry of reneging on promises to hire them. The group traveled 750 miles from the northeastern city of Harbin and claimed that one protester had been killed there.

“We love China!” the protesters shouted. “Give us our jobs!” The protesters, many of them wearing T-shirts saying “I am from a military family,” said they been tested for the jobs but that the results were rigged. People with good connections to the rail ministry were awarded the jobs, they said.

The ministry did not return calls seeking comment.

The protest — a rarity in tightly controlled central Beijing — lost steam after one middle-aged female protester appeared to have had a heart attack. Police officers dispersed the crowd an hour after the demonstration began.

The ministry confirmed that the new high-speed line — as well as several others across the country — would be slower and cheaper than planned. Originally meant to operate at top speeds of about 215 miles per hour, the new line will have trains running at 186 miles and 155 miles per hour. In addition, officials said, they had scrapped plans for luxury compartments and would offer cheaper classes of service.

Read more about high-speed rail in China via CDT.

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The press guidance provided by China’s censors is so voluminous and detailed that leaked copies of the guidance are now available on a regular basis. … It’s a remarkable glimpse into the dark soul of Chinese bureaucracy, a guide to what really scares China’s rulers.  But there’s irony there as well.  I mean, why read Chinese papers when we can get all the juiciest bits from the censors themselves?

… my favorite in recent weeks is the guidance issued by the Central Propaganda Bureau about Liu Zhijun, 58, the recently disgraced transportation ministerwho ran up nearly $300 billion in debt creating China’s bullet train bubb…er…network.  The propaganda bureau has issued this frustratingly brief guidance:  “All media are not to report or hype the news that Liu Zhijun had 18 mistresses.”

Really?  How can you not hype that news?  He’s the same age as George Tenet, for God’s sake.  I want to know what he was eating.

Heck, you could fill an entire week speculating just on the logistics of the thing. Is it any wonder the guy needed to travel between cities at 200 mph?

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Liu Zhijun, who was sacked last month, allegedly took payouts for doling out contracts for the rapid expansion of China’s booming high-speed railway system, amounting to up to four percent of each deal, the Global Times said.
Since Liu became rail minister in 2003, China’s spending on high-speed rail construction has skyrocketed, with investment surpassing 700 billion yuan last year, the paper said.
Liu, 58, also had at least 10 mistresses, some of whom worked as actresses, it said.
Liu is the highest-ranking official to be placed under investigation since former Shanghai Communist Party head Chen Liangyu was dismissed in 2006 and later convicted of corruption in a case that highlighted China’s graft problem.

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Post tags: corruption, high-level corruption, high-speed rail, Liu Zhijun, mistresses, railways
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