1、 1 No Leniency on Organized Crime and Corruption “ The crackdown on Chongqing s underworld is part of a united deployment of the central authority.” ?C Bo Xilai, secretary of the CPC Chongqing municipal committee, during a talk with cadres of the local procuratorial, judicial and public security dep
2、artments, October 28, 2009 CHONGQING has become an engine of development in southwestern China since it was designated a municipality under direct jurisdiction of the central government in 1997. Falling prey to the temptation to make exorbitant profits quickly, some people adopted violence to monopo
3、lize the market, forming an underworld of criminal forces reaching into important economic sectors. Criminal organizations have strict hierarchical structures and division of labor among their members: some carry out killings and robberies, some handle money laundering under cover of legitimate acti
4、vities, and still others gather economic intelligence and “gray information,” or bribe officials to obtain pr otection. Sweeping them away was going to require some serious “new brooms.” 2 Chongqing in Action In order to restore normal economic order and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests
5、 of the people, the Chong- qing police started a crackdown on organized crime and corruption in June 2009. By October 25, they had laid 2,328 criminal charges, arrested 2,915 suspects, eradicated 14 major criminal gangs, and sealed and frozen the proceeds and assets of the dirty dealing, amounting t
6、o US $260 million. Sensational exposure of more than 200 judicial cadres under investigation for their involvement in the underworld included more than ten at the bureau or deputy-bureau level, such as Wen Qiang,former executive deputy chief of the Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau and chie
7、f of the Judicial Bureau, Peng Changjian, former deputy chief of the Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau, and Zhang Tao, former vice-president of the Chongqing Municipal Higher Peoples Court. Two figures were decisive in the campaign against these socially corrosive forces. In 2007 Bo Xilai,
8、former Minister of Commerce, was transferred to Chong-qing Municipality, serving as secretary of the CPC Chongqing Municipal Committee. He immediately started 3 straightening out the official rank and file. He presided over the change of top officials in seven districts and counties under the jurisd
9、iction of Chongqing Municipality, bringing a number of corrupt officials to justice. After that, he transferred Wang Lijun, then deputy mayor of Liaonings Jinzhou City and chief of the Jinzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau, to Chongqing. Wang Lijun has been engaged in police work for more than 20
10、 years. Back in Liaoning, he was famed in police circles as an “ anti-underworld hero” for sweeping away local forces of evil. After he was transferred to Chongqing, he replaced Wen Qiang to serve as the executive deputy chief of the Public Security Bureau, and later was named chief of the Chongqing
11、 Municipal Public Security Bureau, igniting the fuse on Chongqings anti -underworld campaign. The national will marshaled against the underworld and the depredations of vice has made impressive strides. Since February 2006, the public security departments across the country have handled 1,267 cases
12、involving criminal gangs, eradicating 13,000 underworld mobs, arresting 89,000 suspects, and seizing 2,700 guns and pistols. The procuratorial organs instituted legal proceedings against 1,053 cases brought in relation to organized crime. Serious violent cases dropped 11.3 percent in 2008 compared w
13、ith 2005. Some large gangs have been wiped out. In 2009, the police of 4 Dongguan City, Guangdong Province eradicated the organization headed by Wang Lin. In November of the same year, the police in Heilongjiang Province dismantled a criminal gang led by Huang Li. A number of high-ranking officials
14、above the provincial level got their just deserts for corrupt practices, including Zhu Zhigang, former director of the Commission for Budgeting of the National Peoples Congress; Zheng Shaodong, former assistant to the Minister of Public Security; Chen Shaoji, former chairman of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference; and Wang Huayuan, former secretary of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection.
