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"Wang's Woman Woes" or "Hell Hath no Fury"
BEIJING: One of Chinas top brass has been charged with accepting millions of dollars in bribes from contractors after one of his mistresses blew the whistle, independent sources with ties to the military said on Wednesday. If found guilty, Vice Admiral Wang Shouye, 63, one of five navy deputy commanders and a member of Chinas parliament, would be the most senior Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) officer ever convicted of a crime.Wang Shouye kept several mistresses. One of them reported him to the authorities after he refused to give in to her demands for money, a source with knowledge of the case told Reuters, requesting anonymity.
The corruption scandal deepens the woes of the PLA, currently reeling from the worst air force disaster in more than five decades. Forty people were killed when a military plane crashed in the eastern province of Anhui on June 3. Wang, a Tianjin University civil engineering graduate, was promoted to deputy commander of the navy in 2001 after heading the Logistics Department office which oversaw the construction of barracks. He was also in charge of housing reform. He was accused of accepting up to 120mn yuan ($15mn) in bribes from contractors in exchange for throwing construction projects their way, a second source said. It was unclear when the military court would hand down a verdict. Chinas state media have not reported the case. Wangs family, mistress and lawyer could not be reached. Last year, Major General Liu Guangzhi, who was targeted by Taiwan for recruitment as a spy, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for accepting bribes from subordinates seeking promotions or transfers. State media have made no mention of Lius imprisonment either other than reporting that parliament had expelled him for unspecified economic crimes. Liu was also sacked as commandant of the Air Force Command Academy. Official graft was virtually wiped out in China in the years after the 1949 Communist takeover but has bounced back in the wake of economic reforms that have spawned wealth and greed. Leaders have warned repeatedly that corruption threatens the Communist Partys survival. In 1999, a general and a colonel were executed for spying for Taiwan in the biggest espionage scandal of the Communist era. Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other since their split in 1949 at the end of the Chinese civil war.Reuters Posted by: Steve 2006-06-15 |
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