Yang Xiuzhu, fugitive former vice-director of the Zhejiang
Provincial Construction Bureau, is believed to have taken bribes of
253.2 million yuan (US$30 million), according to a report from
Xinhua News Agency.
It is reported that in Yang's case 19 related officials are
under investigation, of whom nine were county-level officials and
have been sent to judicial authorities to face possible legal
punishments, officials from the Wenzhou Discipline Inspection
Commission said at a meeting on Tuesday.
Officials said the investigation into Yang's case bore fruit
when 42.4 million yuan (US$5 million) was recovered and property
and funds worth over 70 million yuan (US$8.4 million) were
frozen.
Five investigative teams of more than 40 officials from
discipline inspection departments were set up in November last year
in different Wenzhou locations, according to officials from the
Wenzhou Discipline Inspection Commission.
To date, they have collected evidence from interviews with over
100 witnesses.
The media began to focus on the case after Yang fled abroad with
her daughter, son-in-law and grandson on April 20, 2004 after the
local government began to deal with the case.
Yang Guangrong, deputy general manager of the Wenzhou Railway
Real Estate Development Company, and the younger brother of Yang
Xiuzhu, was sentenced to 10 years and six months imprisonment for
accepting bribes.
Yang Xiuzhu, 58, held the post of vice-mayor of Wenzhou from
1995 to 1998 and was in charge of urban planning and
construction.
In 1998, Yang became the vice-director of the Zhejiang
Provincial Construction Bureau.
Gao Yunguang, once vice-director of the Wenzhou Urban Planning
Bureau, and Sha Shaohua, former deputy general manager of the
Wenzhou Railway Real Estate Development Company, were charged with
helping Yang Xiuzhu embezzle over 11 million yuan (US$1.32 million)
in February 2004.
(China Daily December 9, 2004)