Astonishingly poor and greedy

The amount of bribes accepted by corrupt officials should be linked to the local economic base. In economically developed provinces, the amount of bribes accepted is larger, and in economically underdeveloped provinces, the amount of bribes accepted is correspondingly less, which is called a positive ratio. However, the reality is very bone-deep, and the provincial and ministerial-level officials who have been investigated and punished in recent years and the economically underdeveloped provinces have accepted a large amount of bribes, which has become an inverse proportion. And the amount was shockingly large, which surprised many people.

On July 31, 2020, Zhao Zhengyong, former secretary of the Shaanxi Provincial CPC Committee, was sentenced to death for accepting bribes, suspended for two years, deprived of political rights for life, and sentenced to confiscation of all personal property.

In recent years, not many provincial and ministerial tigers have been sentenced to suspended death, but Zhao Zhengyong has appeared on the list, indicating that the amount of bribes he accepted was too proportional to the economic development level of Shaanxi Province. How much did Zhao Zhengyong take bribes? Reached 717 million yuan.

Zhao Zhengyong worked in Shaanxi from 2003 to 2018 for a total of 15 years, accepting bribes of 717 million yuan, an average of 47.8 million yuan per year. For 365 days a year, Zhao Zhengyong accepted bribes of 130,900 yuan per day. In a relatively economically underdeveloped province, he earns so much money every day, how tired he would be if he counted it all.

In 2018, the local fiscal revenue of Shaanxi Province was 224.311 billion yuan, while Zhao Zhengyong accepted an average of 47.8 million yuan in bribes per year, which means that Shaanxi's fiscal revenue was 4692 yuan, and 1 yuan was Zhao Zhengyong's. According to this ratio, shaanxi province's fiscal revenue can only feed 4692 Zhao Zhengyong. The annual population of Shaanxi Province in 2018 is 38.64 million, which means that the average person in Shaanxi Province has to give Zhao Zhengyong 1.23 yuan per year. This figure is based on 2018, in the 15 years between 2003 and 2018, 2018 was the highest fiscal revenue in Shaanxi Province, and in 2003, when Zhao Zhengyong first arrived in Shaanxi, Shaanxi Province's annual fiscal revenue was 32.6 billion yuan, and Zhao Zhengyong's average annual bribery was 47.8 million yuan.

Coincidentally, Yun Citizen, former vice chairman of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, deputy secretary of the Shanxi Provincial Party Committee, and general manager of China Huadian Group Corporation, accepted bribes equivalent to 468.66 million yuan from 1992 to 2016. Strictly speaking, Inner Mongolia and Shanxi, where he worked, are not very economically developed places, and it is also a miracle that he can accept such a large amount of bribes.

Yun Citizen worked in Inner Mongolia in 1992, and the total financial income of the autonomous region was only 3.91 billion yuan that year. The 2016 fiscal revenue of Shanxi Province, where he worked, was 155.6 billion yuan, and the number of bribes he could still accept was 468.66 million yuan when working in these two economically underdeveloped places, which is simply unbelievable. But this is again the figure determined by the court, and it has legal seriousness.

From 1995 to 2021, Wang Fuyu, former chairman of the Guizhou Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, who was sentenced to a suspended death sentence a few days ago, took advantage of his position and the convenience of his position of authority to seek benefits for relevant units and individuals in matters such as enterprise operation, planning approval, and job adjustment, and illegally accepted property equivalent to 434 million yuan, directly or through others. After leaving office from 2019 to 2020, he also used his influence to accept property equivalent to more than 17.35 million yuan.

In 1995, Wang Fuyu was still working in Hainan, and the annual revenue of Hainan Province was 2.85 billion yuan, and in 2019, Wang Fuyu retired from the position of chairman of the Guizhou CPPCC, and the annual fiscal income of Guizhou Province was 176.75 billion yuan. In the economically underdeveloped Guizhou Province, Wang Fuyu was able to accept bribes like a fish in the field of bribery, and successively accepted bribes of 434 million yuan, which is also a feat.

There is also Liu Guoqiang, former deputy secretary of the party group and vice chairman of the Liaoning Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, who was the general manager of Benxi Iron and Steel Group, the mayor of Benxi Municipal Government, and the vice governor of Liaoning Provincial Government, retired in January 2017 and was reviewed and investigated in July 2020. In August 2021, the court conducted a first-instance trial, and the procuratorate prosecuted Liu Guoqiang for accepting more than 350 million yuan of illegal property.

Liaoning Province's economy in recent years also belongs to the underdeveloped provinces, Liu Guoqiang retired in 2017, Liaoning Province's annual fiscal revenue of 239.2 billion yuan. The population of Liaoning Province in 2017 was 41.965 million, which is not high per capita. Taking bribes of 350 million yuan in such a province is also a lot.

The phenomenon of great greed in poor provinces is not uncommon. In the past few days, CCTV broadcast "Zero Tolerance", Inner Mongolia has produced 5 huge greed. In the past, it was said that poor temples and rich abbots were rich, but huge greed in economically underdeveloped areas was also intolerable.