Liang Jian | 3.1 billion and 1021 properties of the deputy mayor

It’s fake to say I’m not surprised.

Such shocking numbers are in front of me, even after witnessing countless strange phenomena, it’s still hard to avoid surprise:

Li Chuanliang, former deputy mayor of Jixi, Heilongjiang, was ordered to confiscate his illegal gains:

Involved over 3.1 billion, 1021 properties were seized.

To be honest, although Brother Liang is very poor, our officials are rich, and the amount of corruption is often tens of millions or even hundreds of millions.

So much so that when I saw the number “3.1 billion“, I didn’t feel much of a ripple in my heart.

But when I searched, Jixi City’s GDP for the first half of 2024 was only 21.8 billion yuan, I knew I was somewhat ignorant.

And some media, when talking about the seized properties, used the term “over a thousand“, which also shocked me.

At a time when renting a house is a struggle for a hundred or two hundred yuan, 21 properties were simply “left over” by the media.

This is really an era of inflation for corrupt officials.

But “3.1 billion” and “1021 properties” are not enough to explain all of Li Chuanliang’s corruption.

The announcement published in the People’s Court Daily says:

Li Chuanliang invested 3.1 billion into companies and projects under his personal actual control, used for land first-level development and consolidation, real estate development, engineering construction, etc., as well as purchasing real estate, vehicles, land, equipment, etc.

After the case, a total of RMB 140987.522529 million was seized and frozen, 1021 properties were seized, 27 plots of land and beach were seized, 8 plots of forest land were seized, 38 vehicles were seized, 10 sets of mechanical equipment were seized, and the equity of 18 companies was frozen.

What’s shocking is that the illegal gains of a deputy mayor filled an entire large page of the People’s Court Daily and were not enough, and then occupied half of the next page!

Suddenly, “too numerous to record” seemed to have a concrete form.

What’s even more frightening is that 1.5 large pages may not be all of Li Chuanliang’s.

Li Chuanliang was investigated in July 2020. But he resigned from public office as early as March 2017 and fled abroad in November 2018.

And the wanted order against him was not issued until December 1, 2020.

The notice of Li Chuanliang’s investigation mentioned that he “had fled abroad to avoid investigation and transferred part of the illicit money abroad“.

That is to say, the actual amount of illicit money may be more than we can imagine.

Also a deputy mayor, also corruption, also fleeing abroad, many netizens say that Li Chuanliang is “the real-life version of Ding Yizhen”.

But according to the plot in the name of the people, Ding Yizhen only embezzled tens of millions (I didn’t expect that I would dare to look down on tens of millions), fled in a hurry, was forced to wash dishes in the United States, in terms of level, Li Chuanliang prepared early, transferred property, and retreated completely, I don’t know how high he is.

It is said that “In the Name of the People” has a large scale, it seems that it is still too conservative.

Art comes from reality, but reality is more magical than art.

What’s even more magical is that such a huge corrupt official was once unanimously recognized by local cadres and the masses as “a copper wall to prevent corruption“.

Li Chuanliang even, at the end of his tenure as the director of the Jixi Municipal Finance Bureau, because he was dissatisfied with the illegal reimbursement of family travel expenses by Xu Zhaojun (who has been sentenced), the then secretary of the Jixi Municipal Party Committee, he reported it to the discipline inspection organization in his real name.

In March 2010, in the face of an interview with the Jixi Municipal media, Li Chuanliang also said:

“Standing among the people, only then can we have the support of the people of Jixi, and only then can we build a copper wall to prevent corruption. Without the people of Jixi, I am nothing.”

The slogans are the same as Ding Yizhen’s.

What’s interesting is that, according to a previous report by Jiemian News, Li Chuanliang, who likes to think with his chin and has wrinkles all over his forehead when he smiles, studied hard from a young age and wanted to get rid of the life in the coal area.

Even the businessmen who invested in Jixi said of him, “He looks like a particularly honest person.”

This gives people a sense of unreal division. What made a once hardworking and aspiring young man become the giant corrupt official he is today?

Between the young man who once studied hard and the giant corrupt official of today, what separates them should be more than just decades of years.