Robbery report led the police to clues regarding embezzled funds

TAIYUAN - The board chairman of a State-owned enterprise in Shanxi province was sacked on Thursday, following a suspicion that cash and valuables worth nearly 50 million yuan ($7.89 million) looted from his home late in November were acquired through inappropriate means, said a local publicity official.

Bai Peizhong, 48, former board chairman of Shanxi Coking Coal Group, was being investigated by the Shanxi provincial discipline supervision department after being dismissed from the post on Thursday, Kang Meisheng, director of the publicity department of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Shanxi provincial government, told China Daily.

The dismissal of Bai was triggered by a criminal case in which his wife was robbed at home by two security guards posted at their residential community in late November.

His wife reported to the police afterward, claiming that she was robbed of 3 million yuan. However, the two robbers later confessed to the police that the haul was worth 50 million yuan, including cash, gold bullions, watches and jewelry, according to a report of Guangzhou-based New Express.

The two robbers had assumed that Bai and his wife would not report them to the police, as the money and goods they had seized were embezzled. Bai was investigated afterward by the provincial supervision authorities, the newspaper quoted insiders as saying.

China Daily could not reach Shanxi police for comment at the time of going to the press.

The Shanxi Coking Group is the country's largest coke making company and the biggest State-owned enterprise in Shanxi, with a total sale of more than 100 billion yuan in 2010 and an annual output of more than 100 million tons of coal.

Bai, who used to be vice-mayor of Xinzhou in Shanxi province, is not the first corrupt official being exposed by theft or robbery cases.

In a separate case, an official surnamed Guo in Xinzhou Bureau of Landscape and Forestry was investigated by the local supervision authorities after two thieves sneaked into his home and stole 295,000 yuan cash, gold jewelry and expensive watches on the morning of April 10, according to a report in the Taiyuan-based San Jin City News.

The two thieves blackmailed Guo afterward, claiming that they were officials from the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security. Guo was asked to pay 600,000 yuan in exchange of their silence. Guo paid the two thieves 50,000 yuan using credit cards. When the thieves kept pestering him for more money, he reported them to the police.

The thieves were caught, providing leads to investigating the source of Guo's wealth, said the report.

Netizens have mocked such cases as "robbers against corruption" and "thieves against corruption" on the Sina micro blog, saying that criminals could play a significant role in exposing corrupt officials.

Zhu Lijia, who is researching corruption at the Chinese Academy of Governance, said that cases of robbers exposing corrupt officials reflected the inadequacy of surveillance on government officials.

"Although some robbery and theft cases have managed to expose several corrupt officials, however, a long-term mechanism must be established to prevent officials from resorting to corrupt practices," Zhu said. "The officials should report their assets to the public to make the government more transparent."

Cheng Shuying contributed to this story.