The Procuratorate Daily, a Chinese mouthpiece published by the Supreme Court of China, published an article containing information about Xu’s confession for arresting officials. Xu explained why he began taking bribes: “In 1989 [when Xu was a city government official], I went to a conference with several party officials who were in charge of economic development. They stayed in the best hotels and each meal cost about 5,000 yuan (US$791),” said Xua according to iFeng.com. “I couldn’t take it. My yearly salary was not enough for their one meal.”
Since then Xu wanted a shift in his career, so he connected himself with the wealthiest people in the city. From 1995 to 2009, Xu accepted bribes totaling more than 145 million yuan (US$23 million). He also embezzled more than 50 million yuan (US$7.9 million) in state assets.
Further investigation revealed that Xu had 99 mistresses, many of whom were wealthy businesswomen, female government officials, and college students, according to the Oriental Outlook Magazine, a news weekly published by Chinese mouthpiece, Xinhua. Xu was called the “man of three ‘a lots’,” meaning a lot of money, a lot of properties, and a lot of women. Xu was sentenced to death and executed on July 18, 2011.
Cash total: 1.4 billion yuan (US$220 million).
Coal Baron
Hao Pengjun was the party chief for the Bureau of Land and Resources in the small town of Pu in Shanxi Province. Located on a plateau and bordered by mountains, Shanxi Province is famous for its abundance of coal.
Hao used his post to run the coal mining fields as if he privately owned them and covered the costs of illegal purchases with public funds. Hao accepted bribes from businessmen who were eager to profit from the mining fields and enlarged the dangerous fields into residential areas to increase profitability for the businessmen.
During his tenure as party chief, Hao gained nearly 800 million yuan (US$127 million) through corruption. He also owned 35 properties across the country, from Beijing to Henan Island, according to Sina News. Although Hao was a lower township-level official, his corruption surpassed many who were above him. He was sentenced to 20 years in April 2010. In 2009, many other corrupt officials, who took advantage of Shanxi’s mining industry were also removed.
Cash total: 3 billion yuan (US$472 million).
Post Seller
As the vice governor of Shandong Province, Huang Sheng found a way to make money: selling Party posts. Huang sold the township-level Party chief post for 500,000 yuan (US$79,000), and chief of a local bureau cost 100,000 yuan (US$15,000).
