The most recent FCPA and anticorruption enforcement developments involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are summarized below. Thanks as always to Squire Sanders Shanghai Office for monitoring these enforcement actions
China Enforcement Actions
(1) On June 5, Wu Xiaoli (“Wu”), former general manager of the Shanghai Gongxin Project Construction Supervision Center Ltd, a state-owned company, was sentenced to life in prison for allegedly embezzling RMB 42 million (USD 6.6 million) of the company’s funds during her term from 1994 to 2010.
(2) On June 6, 2012, Hu Jianhua (“Hu”), former deputy chief of the environmental protection bureau of Tongzhou district of Beijing, was sentenced to 16 years in prison after being convicted of accepting bribes in the amount of RMB 1.2 million (USD 188,500) and embezzling more than RMB 400,000 (USD 63.492) in public funds.
During Hu’s term, he allegedly used his influence to undertake construction projects in the name of a company under his control and then subcontracted the projects to other companies for a much lower price in order to profit from the price difference. In addition, Hu allegedly abused his powers to purchase real estate at a below-the-market price and helped a Beijing real estate developer to secure a bid for a construction project in exchange for bribes in the amount of RMB 220,000 (USD 349.21).
(3) On June 19, 2012, a court affirmed a prior court’s conviction of Man Man for bribery related offenses. Man Man, a former county official in Northwest China’s Gansu province was sentenced to life imprisonment for taking bribes exceeding RMB 6.57 million (USD 1 million) and his failure to explain the source of RMB 2.08 million (USD 330,159) in assets.
(4) On June 20, 2012, Feng Shiru (“Feng”), former deputy director of Yangjiang City Public Security Bureau in Guangdong Province was sentenced to life imprisonment for taking bribes exceeding RMB 7 million (USD 1.1 million) from local criminal organizations in exchange for his providing protection over their illegal activities.
Feng also reportedly invested in casinos run by the organized crime in Macau and abused his police powers by allowing convicted criminals to serve their respective sentences outside of jail.
(5) On June 20, 2012, Hu Jun (“Hu”), former deputy director of the Shanghai Planning, Land and Resources Administrative Bureau went on trial for taking bribes exceeding RMB 7 million (USD 1.1 million).
During Hu’s term first as the director of Shanghai Jing’an district’s urban planning administration, he allegedly abused his power to help Zhongkai Corporate Group (“Zhongkai”), a residential complex developer in Jing’an district, to win planning approvals. In exchange, Zhongkai sold Hu two apartments in Jing’an area for a price that was RMB 2 million lower than market price.
During Hu’s subsequent post as the deputy chief of Chongming District in charge of urban planning affairs, Hu received bribes from local real estate developers in change for his issuance of approvals. Hu admitted taking bribes in the amount of RMB 5 million (USD 0.79 million) in the past 10 years. Hu reportedly has returned RMB 4.8 million of the bribes, and the court took has not yet imposed a sentence on Hu for the aforementioned offenses.
In a case similar to Hu’s last year, Tao Xiaoxing, former deputy director of the Shanghai Housing, Land and Resources Administrative Bureau, was sentenced to life imprisonment for taking RMB 10.45 million (USD 1.65 million) in bribes.
In 2008, Yin Guoyuan, Tao’s predecessor, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for taking RMB 35.55 million (USD 5.63million) in bribes in addition to other crimes.
(6) On June 25, 2012, Huang Sheng, former vice governor of Shandong Province was expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) for allegedly taking bribes of a significant amount. The case has been submitted to the prosecutors for review.