From last year to this year, four managerial-level executives at the Shanghai Stock Exchange have been investigated. The former general manager of the Stock Exchange, Zhu Congjiu, was recently sentenced to life imprisonment. Analysts suggest that the series of incidents involving senior financial executives in Shanghai not only involve corruption issues but also have significant political implications, reflecting the intense power struggles within the Chinese Communist Party.
On November 19, Zhu Congjiu, former general manager of the Shanghai Stock Exchange and former member of the Zhejiang Provincial Political Consultative Conference, was accused of “losing ideological beliefs,” “making reckless comments about the central authorities,” “forming cliques,” “destroying the political environment,” “illegally bringing prohibited books into the country for personal reading,” “resisting organizational review,” “disregarding the spirit of the central authorities’ eight-point regulations,” “seeking benefits for relatives and others in terms of employment and job promotion,” and “illegally accepting a total of more than 105 million yuan in cash or gifts,” and was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Intermediate People’s Court in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province.
According to official reports from the Chinese Communist Party, Zhu Congjiu was given a lighter sentence due to his good attitude towards confessing, voluntarily returning embezzled funds, and ensuring that all proceeds and interest involved in the case were recovered.
Independent writer Zhuge Mingyang told Dajiyuan that in the Chinese Communist Party system, accepting bribes of over one hundred million yuan is not uncommon. The downfall of Zhu Congjiu is evidently more politically motivated than economically driven. He stated, “In the eyes of the CCP, criticizing the central authorities, disrupting the political environment, and secretly reading so-called prohibited books are unacceptable. From the perspective of corruption, there are hardly any clean CCP officials, but differing political views and threatening the interests of different factional groups are not allowed. This is the fundamental reason for the CCP’s internal power struggles.”
Zhu Congjiu previously served as the general manager of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, while his wife, Fang Ruizhi, held the position of Inspector General at Huaxia Fund. In the past year, three senior executives at the Shanghai Stock Exchange have been investigated.
Public records show that Zhu Congjiu was born in March 1965 in Feixi, Anhui Province. He graduated in Finance and Economics from Anhui Finance and Trade College and pursued postgraduate studies in Monetary Banking at the Central Bank of the CCP. After completing his postgraduate studies, he was assigned to the People’s Bank of China as a financial management cadre. In 1992, he transferred to the China Securities Regulatory Commission and later became the Deputy General Manager and Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 1999, before being promoted to General Manager and Party Secretary of the Stock Exchange in May 2000, becoming the youngest general manager in the history of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Zhu Congjiu’s wife, Fang Ruizhi, previously served as the Inspector General at Huaxia Fund. In late April last year, Fang Ruizhi was taken away for investigation, followed closely by the downfall of her husband, Zhu Congjiu, in May.
From July last year to August this year, three senior executives at the Shanghai Stock Exchange have been investigated, namely Dong Guoqun, former Deputy General Manager, Zhang Dongke, former Deputy Chairman, and Liu Ti, former Deputy General Manager.
According to official reports from the Chinese Communist Party, Dong Guoqun, former member of the Party Committee and Deputy General Manager of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, was investigated for serious violations of discipline and law on August 2 this year.
Dong Guoqun, born in 1965, joined the Shanghai Stock Exchange in May 1996 and held various positions within the organization before being investigated and dismissed in August this year.
Preceding Dong Guoqun was Zhang Dongke, the former Deputy Chairman of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, who was taken away for investigation in July last year after being retired for nearly five years. Official reports did not provide extensive details regarding Zhang Dongke’s personal background and specific reasons for his investigation.
In April last year, Liu Ti, former Deputy General Manager of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, was investigated, preceding Zhang Dongke’s downfall. Liu Ti was dismissed from public office on October 20 of the same year for “serious violations of duty.”
Liu Ti, born in 1968, started working at the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 1998 and held various positions within the organization before becoming the Deputy General Manager in March 2019.
Official reports stated that Liu Ti, considering himself a capital market “expert,” accepted extravagant invitations from regulated entities, received gifts that could influence the impartial exercise of public power, falsified personal information using a fake divorce scheme to deceive the organization, misappropriated public funds through an abuse of power, and sought improper benefits for himself and others through shareholdings in several pre-IPO companies, illegally accepting significant financial gains.
“The CCP system is rotten to the core, and anti-corruption efforts are like cutting away its decayed flesh. The more you cut, the faster it dies,” Zhuge Mingyang remarked.