Zhou Yongkang and His Corrupt Circle

It’s easy to purchase a position in China’s powerful security organ, the Political and Legislative Affairs Committee, an insider told The Epoch Times.
Zhou Yongkang and His Corrupt Circle
Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Standing Committee of the of Communist Party, may follow his protege Bo Xilai in being expelled from his Party posts if his rivals get the best of him. (Liu Jin/AFP/Getty Images)
5/31/2012
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img class="size-large wp-image-1780541" title="Zhou Yongkang" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/140696573zhouyongkang.jpg" alt="Zhou Yongkang" width="590" height="441"/></a>
Zhou Yongkang

It’s easy to purchase a position in China’s powerful security organ, the Political and Legislative Affairs Committee (PLAC). One can buy a vice director-level position in the Tianjin Police Bureau for 300,000 yuan (US$45,000), and almost 1,000 positions have been sold in the past six months, an insider with the Chinese regime told The Epoch Times in a recent interview. 

Zhou Yongkang, head of the PLAC, appears to be mired in corruption at a level much higher than his key ally Bo Xilai, the disgraced former head of Chongqing.

Zhou has been implicated as the head of the “Bloody Hands Faction” that has cracked down on dissidents and human rights activists, as well as fueling the persecution of the Falun Gong meditation practice that was initiated in 1999.

Zhou’s family has hoarded an enormous fortune through selling official posts and taking bribes for manipulating courts, the inside source said. The insider pointed out that every member of Zhou’s family is a billionaire and possess large amounts of assets in international banks.

Zhou’s cousins have sold off official posts in multiple cities throughout China, while his son, Zhou Bin, owns real estate properties in Hong Kong, Paris, Shanghai, Beijing, and Wuxi. He also has bank accounts in Switzerland, the United States, and Hong Kong, according to the insider. Of one of the 18 properties he owns in Beijing, one is worth more than US$31 million.

The Mingjing news website quoted sources from Sichuan province and Petro China, a Chinese oil firm headed by Zhou Bin, claiming that Zhou Bin obtained 20 billion yuan (US$3.1 billion) for himself, Bo Xilai, and other close associates. Petro China has come under fire for trading with the Sudanese government during the ongoing genocide in Darfur.

There have been reports of other egregious examples of Zhou Bin’s abuse of power.

In one incident, a police officer killed a suspect by pouring boiling water on him, from the head down. Zhou Bin reportedly received a 100 million yuan (US$15.7 million) bribe to make sure the police officer received no punishment, according to Mingjing
 
Zhang Jing, the vice head of the Economic Crime Investigation Department (ECID) and a trusted subordinate of Zhou Yongkang, received at least 500 million or 600 million yuan (US$75 million to $95 million) from more than 10 real estate properties, according to Chinaobserve. A former senior public security official, Zheng Shaodong, said Zhang and other officials helped transfer at least 400 million yuan (US$63 million) to Zhou’s family.

Editor’s Note: When Chongqing’s former top cop, Wang Lijun, fled for his life to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu on Feb. 6, he set in motion a political storm that has not subsided. The battle behind the scenes turns on what stance officials take toward the persecution of Falun Gong. The faction with bloody hands—the officials former CCP head Jiang Zemin promoted in order to carry out the persecution—is seeking to avoid accountability for their crimes and to continue the campaign. Other officials are refusing any longer to participate in the persecution. Events present a clear choice to the officials and citizens of China, as well as people around the world: either support or oppose the persecution of Falun Gong. History will record the choice each person makes.

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