Source: The website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervision Commission
Li Guang, former vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the Yichun City People's Congress in Heilongjiang Province, was expelled from the party and public office for "setting up a 'small treasury' in violation of regulations and using the money from the 'small treasury'"; Wang Fuliang, former general manager of the Liaoning Provincial Geological Exploration and Mining Group, was expelled from the party and public office for "arbitraging the funds of the 'small treasury' for personal use...... In the recently released notice on party discipline and government sanctions, many of them involved the issue of "small treasury".
"Small treasury" refers to the funds (including securities) and the assets formed thereof that should be included in the account books of the units that meet the requirements but are not included in the account books of the units that meet the requirements in violation of laws, regulations and other relevant provisions. In recent years, with the in-depth rectification of various localities, financial management has become increasingly strict, and the phenomenon of private "small treasury" has been effectively curbed, but it still occurs from time to time. Why is the "small treasury" banned but not stopped? What other efforts need to be made to rectify the stubborn problem of the "small treasury"? This reporter interviewed the reporter.
For 18 years, the grain depot had set up a "small treasury" to falsely claim and extract public funds as "private money"
At the Grain Storage Center in Chengyang District, Qingdao City, Shandong Province, tens of thousands of tons of wheat are stored in eight tall bungalows. The centrifugal fan of the granary runs at high speed and emits a low roaring sound to ventilate and dry the new grain in the silo.
Since last year, the Chengyang District Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision has carried out special rectification work on corruption in the field of grain purchase and sales. After receiving clues about the inspection of the Chengyang District Grain Collection and Storage Center, the case-handling personnel first started with the financial investigation, collected the accounts of the center for more than 20 years in batches, inquired about the flow of public accounts, etc., invited professional auditors to participate in the audit of suspicious accounts, and found that the center had problems such as false declarations, fraudulent claims, arbitrage of public funds and private "small treasury", and seriously investigated and dealt with Liu Mouzhong, former secretary of the Party Committee and director of the Chengyang District Finance and Trade Bureau, and Liu Mouzhong, former director of the Chengyang District Grain Storage Center. Xu and Ji Mougang, the former chief of the finance department, and other 6 people seriously violated discipline and law.
After investigation, from the second half of 2004, when Liu Mouze set up a "small treasury", to his departure in 2010, the "small treasury" has always existed, and after replacing Liu Mouze, Xu also set up a "small treasury" until the end of 2021, which lasted for 18 years. Ji has just worked in the financial department of the grain collection and storage center for more than 20 years, has rich business experience, and the accounts are very neat; in addition, the "small treasury" funds are stored in cash in a locked iron cabinet, and it is difficult to find problems from the running accounts alone, and they are highly concealed.
A responsible comrade of the Chengyang District Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision told this reporter that the funds for the "small treasury" of the Chengyang District Grain Purchasing and Storage Center mainly come from four aspects: falsely reporting losses and fraudulently claiming subsidies and storage fees, fictitious grain purchase payments for grain transactions, fictitious freight and handling fees in the process of grain rotation, and rebates collected in the grain replacement business.
Where is the money used for the "small treasury"? It has been learned that the "small treasury" was initially set up to deal with some expenses that were difficult to account for in the units, such as entertaining guests and distributing holiday benefits, and so on, and it was more convenient to withdraw funds from the "small treasury." Later, the "small treasury" became the "private money" of Liu Mouze, Xu, Ji Mougang, and others. As the leader of the higher-level competent unit, Liu Mouzhong has important leadership responsibility for the neglect of management and oversight of issues such as the private establishment of "small treasury".
"The corruption case of the grain storage center in Chengyang District is inextricably linked to its long-standing 'small treasury' problem. For example, when Liu Mouze was the director of the Chengyang District Grain Receiving and Storage Center, he privately divided the funds of the 'small treasury' for personal expenses; later, when Xu took office, one of the sources of funds for the 'small treasury' was to receive rebates from grain dealers during the grain rotation process. Therefore, we must not only deal with the violation of discipline in setting up a private 'small treasury,' but also investigate and deal with the crimes committed in the course of official duties. The relevant responsible comrade of the Chengyang District Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision said.
On the surface, it is public, but in fact it is private, and the "small treasury" and the "four winds" problems go hand in hand
"The purpose of setting up a private 'small treasury' is to facilitate the use of money and materials, and its main feature is to deliberately make the corresponding funds and property evade or escape from the supervision and supervision of finance, auditing, etc., and deposit them in private accounts for personal withdrawal. This not only violates state laws and regulations, but also breeds a series of corruption and work style problems. Zhu Mengqiu, director of the case trial room of the Yueqing Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Zhejiang Province, said.
From the perspective of funding sources, there are two main types of money in the "small treasury":
First, the income is not recorded in the accounts and "off-the-books" are formed, including the establishment of "small treasury" with illegal fees, fines and apportionment, the establishment of "small treasury" with asset disposal and rental income, the establishment of "small treasury" by not including operating income in the prescribed account book accounting, and the formation of "small treasury" by illegal income generation. For example, Zeng Guangming, former director of the Xiniu Police Station of the Yingde City Public Security Bureau in Guangdong Province, instructed his subordinates to set up a "small treasury" in violation of regulations, and the sources of funds included public security joint defense fees and sponsorship fees collected from units or individuals such as quarries, factories, and restaurants in the jurisdiction, as well as some fines withheld in the course of handling cases.
The second is to make false expenditures and obtain funds, including arbitrage of funds in the name of conference fees, labor fees, training fees, consulting fees, etc., and fraudulent use of false invoices and other illegal bills to obtain funds. For example, Yang Moumou, the former director of the village committee of Wangjun Village, Hongdun Town, Shaowu City, Fujian Province, discussed with other cadres of the "two committees" of the village at the time and decided to illegally obtain 883,500 yuan of subsidy funds for the benefit project in the name of the villagers of Wangjun Village to set up a "small treasury". In addition, there are also cases of transferring assets through false related party transactions, or transferring funds between subordinate and subordinate units in violation of regulations to set up "small treasury".
Judging from the use, some party members and cadres ignore the rules of discipline and set up a collective "small treasury" for the public, hoping to "share some benefits for everyone" and "facilitate the work".
In 2022, the Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Youyang Tujia and Miao Autonomous County in Chongqing Municipality investigated and dealt with a case of privately setting up a "small treasury" to distribute benefits to employees. Chongqing Grain Group's Youyang County Grain Company obtained state-owned funds and state-owned assets rental income by inflating the amount of projects and fictitious engineering projects, which were used to overpay employees' wages, performance and reimbursement of personal irregular expenditures. The person in charge of the company was given a serious warning within the party, and the remaining two relevant responsible persons were given an intra-party warning.
"On the surface, the 'small treasury' seems to be working for the benefit of the collective, but the relevant personnel fabricate false acceptance information, falsely increase and falsely list the company's project expenditures, conceal the rental income of state-owned assets, and arbitrage state-owned funds, resulting in distortion of accounting information, which actually affects the normal operation and management of enterprises, resulting in the loss of state-owned assets and harming the interests of the state and the collective. The relevant responsible comrade of the Youyang County Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision said.
The "small treasury" and the "four winds" problems go hand in hand. Zhang Jinghua, deputy director of the case trial office of the Fuyang District Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, told this reporter that in the cases involving the "small treasury" issue, the use of "small treasury" funds to distribute subsidies and other benefits in violation of regulations, illegal eating, drinking, and hospitality, and illegal gifts and money accounted for a relatively large proportion of the cases. The Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Jurong City, Jiangsu Province, analyzed the "small treasury" cases investigated and dealt with in the past three years, and found that the proportion of "small treasury" cases used for reception expenses and welfare payments was as high as 80%.
"For example, the cost of eating, drinking, and receiving must be set up separately in finance, and some units are afraid that the cost of eating and drinking reception will be too large, so in order to avoid supervision and inspection, part of the entertainment expenses will be listed in the 'small treasury'. Zhang Jinghua said.
On the surface, it is public, but in fact it is private. A small number of leading cadres regard the "small treasury" as "private money" that is indulged in extravagance and wantonly squandered, and is used exclusively for personal use, or in collusion with accountants and cashiers to secretly divide collective property, or even for bribery, and so on, which is very likely to lead to job-related crimes. "Because the 'top leader' of the unit has a high voice and decision-making power in terms of personnel, affairs and finance, it is not uncommon for him to decide and arrange financial personnel to set up a 'small treasury'. Ma Jun, director of the Party Style and Government Supervision Office of the Longyou County Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Zhejiang Province, said.
The establishment of private "small treasuries" has exposed deep-seated problems such as the ineffective implementation of the main responsibility of comprehensively and strictly governing the party, the non-standard management of funds, and the lack of power supervision
Regardless of the motive for setting up the "small treasury," its essence is a violation of discipline and law, and the harm should not be underestimated. "The 'small treasury' has become an important channel for the leaders of some units to conceal the contents of their accounts and other abnormal expenditures, resulting in the flow of state and collective assets into the pockets of individuals, seriously disrupting the normal economic order. Moreover, the management and control of the 'small treasury' is often in the hands of a small number of people, and the phenomena of private storage of public funds, arbitrary entry and exit, and chaotic revenue and expenditure without accounts are widespread, which opens the door for misappropriation, private distribution, embezzlement, and even corruption, and causes a small number of party members and cadres to go down the road of violating discipline and law, and even committing crimes. The relevant responsible comrade of the Kaihua County Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Zhejiang Province said.
Behind the problem of "small treasury" are not only subjective reasons such as the decline of ideals and beliefs and the indifference of discipline and law awareness, but also expose the deep-seated problems such as the ineffective implementation of the main responsibility of comprehensively and strictly administering the party, the non-standard management of funds, and the lack of power supervision. Zhao Xiang, director of the Party Style and Government Style Supervision Office of the Discipline Inspection Commission and Supervision Commission of Jurong City, Jiangsu Province, believes that some party members and cadres ignore the financial and economic laws and regulations, and Xi is accustomed to privately setting up "small treasuries" on the grounds of facilitating project settlement and improving work efficiency. Some units lack internal control and management, do not follow rules and regulations, and the supervision of the superior competent unit is lacking, acquiescing and conniving, and even enjoying the benefits brought by the "small treasury".
"Judging from the case of the Chengyang District Grain Procurement and Storage Center, there are three main reasons: First, the person in charge of the unit has a weak sense of discipline and law; second, the system and mechanism are not in place, and the Chengyang District Grain Procurement and Storage Center does not strictly follow the financial laws and regulations in its business activities, such as settling in cash and depositing public funds into personal accounts; third, there are loopholes in management, there is a lack of effective control over the integrity risks of key posts, and the construction of work style and discipline is not solid. The relevant responsible comrade of the Chengyang District Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Qingdao City said.
The problem of privately setting up "small treasuries" has occurred in party and government organs, public institutions, and state-owned enterprises, while grass-roots units with relatively irregular fund management and relatively weak supervisory power are often problem-prone areas. "The establishment of the 'small treasury' is in violation of regulations, and the management and use of the 'small treasury' is not open, transparent, let alone supervised; in addition, the 'small treasury' is mostly used by small collectives, and everyone tacitly does not take the initiative to resist or report, which is also one of the reasons why the 'small treasury' is prohibited and can even exist in a unit for a long time. Ren Keng, deputy director of the Sixth Discipline Inspection and Supervision Office of the Xiaoshan District Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Hangzhou City, said.
The problem of "small treasury" is characterized by long-term nature and concealment. Chen Qiao, deputy director of the Second Discipline Inspection and Supervision Office of the Hangzhou Binjiang District Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision, believes that this is also related to the loopholes in financial management and the lack of supervision and investigation. "At present, the punishment method for the illegal establishment of a 'small treasury' is relatively simple, mainly to confiscate the funds for violating discipline and impose fines on the unit, and the intensity of disciplinary punishment is relatively light, and there are some 'small treasury' problems that have been discovered for a long time, resulting in individual party members and cadres being lucky. ”
We should seriously rectify corruption and unhealthy tendencies in the process of financial management and the use of funds, keep a close eye on clues that may hide the problem of "small treasuries," and maintain a high-pressure posture of strict management and strict governance
"To deal with the 'small treasury', on the one hand, it is necessary to strictly implement the financial disclosure system and intensify daily supervision, patrol supervision, and audit supervision; on the other hand, it is necessary to strengthen the investigation of responsibility and form a strict deterrent. The relevant responsible comrades of the Luojiang District Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Quanzhou City, Fujian Province, said that it is necessary to seriously rectify corruption and unhealthy trends in the process of financial management and the use of funds, pay close attention to the clues that may hide the "small treasury" problem, such as illegal eating and drinking within the unit, bribery of subordinate units to higher-level departments or leaders, and illegal distribution of subsidies, and maintain a high-pressure posture of strict management and strict management of the "small treasury" problem.
Do practical and detailed supervision, dig deep and strictly investigate the "small treasury". In view of the characteristics of the "small treasury", the Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Longyou County, Zhejiang Province, together with the County Finance Bureau, carried out an investigation of the integrity risk in the financial field of various departments in the county, and carried out special supervision and inspection on the implementation of measures to prevent capital management risks.
Focus on outstanding problems and carry out special rectification. The Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Fuyang District, Hangzhou City, has carried out inspections of subsidiaries of state-owned enterprises for many years. On the basis of in-depth analysis of the problems found in self-examination and self-correction, supervision and inspection, and petition reporting, we formulated and issued work tips on deepening the rectification of the "small treasury" problem of state-owned enterprise subsidiaries, identified the manifestations of the "small treasury" problem in the field of state-owned enterprises and rectified the blind spots, and sorted out and refined the list of 13 supervision tasks to carry out rectification around key links such as temporary deposit supervision, operating income management, financial capital expenditure, and financial system implementation. In the rectification work, the District Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision coordinated the supervision force of "room group and local enterprises", set up 5 cross-inspection teams, compared with the supervision list, and comprehensively used methods such as consulting materials, individual interviews, and key verifications to dig deep and thoroughly investigate the problem of "small treasury" in the field of state-owned enterprises.
Strengthen the use of cases to promote reform and promote the construction of systems. In view of the situation that villages (residences) have become areas with a high incidence of "small treasury" problems, the Jurong Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision has promoted the improvement of the village management system for organizing accounts, clarifying the subject and method of supervision, and reducing the risk of village and group fund management. In view of the problem that Ding Moumou, secretary of the general party branch of Yuntang Village, Huayang Street, Jurong City, who was investigated and dealt with this year, took the surplus funds such as the salaries of fire prevention rangers in Yuntang Village and the wages of sanitation and cleaning in the creation of a civilized city as the "small treasury" of Yuntang Village and used them for non-productive expenditures, he formulated and issued a disciplinary inspection proposal to the Party Working Committee of Huayang Street, Jurong City, and promoted the improvement of the six systems of regular exchange and rotation of financial personnel, reminders of fund payment, and regular asset clearance and capital verification. In response to the corruption case of the Chengyang District Grain Storage Center in Qingdao City, the Chengyang District Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision sent a disciplinary inspection proposal to the District Development and Reform Bureau, requiring that key posts and key links be kept a close eye on, rules and regulations should be revised and improved, and the management and control of posts with high integrity risk levels should be further strengthened, and financial management measures and management methods for the use of large amounts of funds should be improved.
Strengthen discipline education. The Yuhang District Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Hangzhou City has implemented a series of projects such as "propaganda and advocating integrity" and "using cases to be honest and honest", including the cases of the "small treasury" problem, strengthening the publicity and education of the financial system and relevant party discipline and regulations, so that party members and cadres can fully understand the serious harm of the "small treasury" problem. In order to give play to the warning and educational deterrent effect of investigating and handling cases, the Shou County Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Anhui Province recently publicly reported three typical cases of privately setting up "small treasuries", requiring leading cadres at all levels in the county to profoundly draw lessons from them, draw inferences from one case, further enhance the awareness of honesty and honesty in government and the concept of discipline and law, strictly abide by the "Guidelines for Honesty and Self-discipline of the Communist Party of China", strictly implement the spirit of the eight central regulations and their implementation rules, and strive to eradicate the breeding ground for "small treasuries."