Former Deputy Director of the Shanghai Housing, Land, and
Resources Administrative Bureau, 60-year-old Yin Guoyuan, is under
investigation, an unnamed official with the Shanghai municipal
government confirmed Thursday.
Yin allegedly failed to account satisfactorily for his immense
wealth, according to local sources.
His wife is also being questioned.
Yin served in the land and resources administrative bureau from
January 1995 before leaving to become chairman of the Shanghai Land
Institute in October 2005.
During his ten years' tenure, he was in charge of land-use
approvals.
The decade saw a boom in the leasing of land in Shanghai,
especially after 2000. The area of leased land during Yin's final
five years was four times greater than in the first five years,
according to statistics released on the website of the Shanghai
Statistics Bureau.
"Almost all land transfer contracts required Yin's signature,"
said a former worker at the Shanghai Housing, Land and Resources
Administrative Bureau.
While Yin always insisted that the "price of land would not
drop," a source close to Yin said that he had several apartments
himself.
In November 2006, Yin's subordinate, Zhu Wenjin, director of the
bureau's land utilization management department, was put under
investigation for "abuse of office by allowing others to profit in
exchange for cash and expensive gifts."
Last month, the CPC discipline inspection commission announced
that nine members of the Party involved in the Shanghai pension
fund case, including Zhu, were being investigated for serious
violations of Party disciplines.
A source close to Yin said he was under great stress because of
the "complicated land management work" and could not sleep
well.
(Xinhua News Agency April 6, 2007)