The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) detected 113
bribery cases in the banking sector in 2006. They involved 26.08
million yuan (US$3.34 million) and 164 people involved were
detained.
The majority of cases had been settled by the courts or entered
judicial process, Gong Jie, an official responsible for the CBRC's
anti-commercial bribery section said yesterday.
The CBRC stepped up efforts in recent years to prevent bribery
or bring the culprits to justice especially after central
government increased its resolve to eradicate the social and
economic malaise.
A total of 316 commercial bribery cases were dealt with between
2003 and 2005. These involved over 72.7 million yuan (US$9.3
million). "In most of the cases bank staff had taken bribes mainly
to grant loans for infrastructure construction or large purchases
such as those needed for IT projects," Gong said.
Eleven of the cases between January 2001 and May 2006 involved
26.9 million yuan (US$3.45 million) and related to the IT projects
of the top five banks: the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China,
the Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction
Bank and Bank of Communications.
"Many cases were reported from State-controlled commercial banks
and rural cooperatives," he said. In fact 55 of the 113 cases in
2006 involved State-controlled commercial banks with 29 related to
rural cooperatives.
Typical cases listed by the CBRC include:
ICBC's Hubei branch. Former general manager of its
information and science department, Wu Weigang, accepted 375,000
yuan (US$48,000) in bribes to clear the branch's equipment purchase
and other projects between January 2002 and August 2004. Wu was
sentenced to six years in prison last year.
ABC's Shanghai branch. The former head of its
security division, Liu Gang, took 840,000 yuan (US$107,600) in
bribes from three companies to clear the purchase of security
products and bidding for equipment maintenance from them between
November 2003 and December 2005. He was sentenced to 13 years in
jail in October 2006.
BOC's Hainan branch. Former vice-president of the
branch, Qin Zhixin, accepted bribes of more than 13 million yuan
(US$1.67 million) from 1992 and 2005 to approve bad loans and
develop property projects. He couldn't account for more than 20
million yuan (US$2.56 million) of his personal assets. Qin was
given the death sentence, suspended for two years, last year.
China Everbright Bank. The former vice-president of the bank's
Heilongjiang branch, Chen Hongbo, took 1.8
million yuan (US$230,700) in bribes from 1999 to 2003. He was
sentenced to 10 years jail in February 2006.
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ. Former general manager of the
Shanghai branch of the bank's computer department, Cao Yunkan,
accepted 59,000 yuan (US$7,500) from the company installing its IT
network project in 2005. Cao was jailed for a year, with a one-year
suspension. This case was the only one involving overseas invested
banks last year.
(China Daily January 31, 2007)