Posted on 06/15/2006 12:50:57 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
EXCLUSIVE - Mistress turns in corrupt China vice admiral-sources
BEIJING (Reuters) - One of China's top brass has been charged with accepting millions of dollars in bribes from contractors after one of his mistresses blew the whistle, independent sources with ties to the military said on Wednesday.
If found guilty, Vice Admiral Wang Shouye, 63, one of five navy deputy commanders and a member of China's parliament, would be the most senior People's Liberation Army (PLA) officer ever convicted of a crime.
"Wang Shouye kept several mistresses. One of them reported him to the authorities" after he refused to give in to her demands for money, a source with knowledge of the case told Reuters, requesting anonymity.
The corruption scandal deepens the woes of the PLA, currently reeling from the worst air force disaster in more than five decades. Forty people were killed when a military plane crashed in the eastern province of Anhui on June 3.
Wang, a Tianjin University civil engineering graduate, was promoted to deputy commander of the navy in 2001 after heading the Logistics Department office which oversaw the construction of barracks. He was also in charge of housing reform.
He was accused of accepting up to 120 million yuan ($15 million) in bribes from contractors in exchange for throwing construction projects their way, a second source said.
It was unclear when the military court would hand down a verdict. China's state media have not reported the case.
The cabinet spokesman's office declined to comment. Wang's family, mistress and lawyer could not be reached.
Last year, Major General Liu Guangzhi, who was targeted by Taiwan for recruitment as a spy, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for accepting bribes from subordinates seeking promotions or transfers.
State media have made no mention of Liu's imprisonment either other than reporting that parliament had expelled him for unspecified "economic crimes". Liu was also sacked as commandant of the Air Force Command Academy.
Official graft was virtually wiped out in China in the years after the 1949 Communist takeover but has bounced back in the wake of economic reforms that have spawned wealth and greed.
Leaders have warned repeatedly that corruption threatens the Communist Party's survival. In 1999, a general and a colonel were executed for spying for Taiwan in the biggest espionage scandal of the Communist era.
Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other since their split in 1949 at the end of the Chinese civil war.
He is at the right position to rake in tons of money.:)
Ping!
Wonder if he'll have to pay for the bullet?
HMMM. Pardon me, if I don't believe this story as presented. I'm not saying I know what did happen, but this kind of thing only becomes public in China for a specific reason.
Yeah, this could be the result of serious power struggle. One faction may have managed to off a major member of the other faction.
Very true.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! HAHAHAHA!
OK Reuters... sure. Everything was fine in the 50s. The Guomindang had been the cause of all the trouble before, and Reds really cleaned things up until all those nasty free market reforms came along.
Please. If graft was reduced by the Revolution, it was only to the extent that the economy was destroyed.
If you ask the Chinese Communist Party, they wiped out bigotry, chauvinism and superstition too.
L
>>>One of China's top brass has been charged with accepting millions of dollars in bribes from contractors after one of his mistresses blew the whistle,
But isn't that part of her job description?
Thing is, though, this only gets exposed in the Chinese press for a reason - and it's not to show the people that corruption is being rooted out, as another poster alluded to.
The *really* corrupt ones, even by their standards, are quietly disappeared, defenestrated, or simply shot out of hand - with nary a mention in their press. This guy seems to qualify as that on the surface, and that's not what's happening to him.
There's some ulterior political motive here, and it's not at all clear what it is from the article.
It's most likely this guy wasn't spreading enough of it around to keep his masters happy and that's why he's facing a firing squad.
L
Possibly - but note that this is going to the *foreign press* only. China's state media is completely silent on this. This isn't a 'random' example crucification.
Something odd is going on here.
I tend to agree.........
Power struggle among the Elites, most likely.......
Factiion A knocking off a clown from faction C ????
L
In the "usual random crucifixion" type of scenario, there's *no* way that the foreign press would get wind of it before it was *all* over the state media. There's just no way they'd miss the propaganda value.
No, I think this is something else altogether. What it is, I don't know, but it's not the usual "people's scapegoat" elimination.
Maybe. I find myself wondering what connection this guy's promotion had with the sudden interest in rebuilding the Varyag.
I doubt it......
This guy sounds like he was mostly in logistics and aquisition for Housing, and Capital Projects....
At to the "V", with the history of machinery and other problems that platform has, i'd say it's being set up for nothing more than a training Carrier......
We started with the Langley, even the Chinese have to start somewhere, and they now have extended shipping lines to thier energy sources to protect.......
They are still 20 years away from a real Blue-Water Navy, longer if they can't kick the corruption and cronyism in thier Officer Corps......
Oh, I didn't mean that I seriously thought that he had anything to do with the Varyag. I meant exactly what I said; I was just idly wondering if there was some possible connection there (i.e., possibly handled procurement for the project).
MY point was that while China has a HUGE military, and is rapidly building up more, the Centralized Control, corruption, cronyism and lack of personal initiative in the Officer Corps is a HUGE handicap......
They have the exact same problems as the Russians in the 70-80's, the difference is that they have much deeper pockets, which simply means bigger and more expensive targets.......
For now........
Hell hath no fury, etc., etc......
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