A major crackdown on construction fraud continues in China. According to an article on eastday.com, a comprehensive news portal site in Shanghai, 1,924 wrongdoers have been punished for crimes related to the construction industry from December to March of this year alone. The report noted that the recent action brings the total number of wrongdoers to 11,000 since the campaign began in September 2009.
The primary crime comes from officials taking brides for awarding contracts.
A total of 5,698 people including officials and government employees had been referred to the judicial departments nationwide for trials.
The punishment can be severe in China. Notes eastday.com, in one of the most high-profile cases, Fan Zhongqian, former mayor assistant of Guiyang, capital of Southwest China’s Guizhou province, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve in July 2010. Fan was found guilty of accepting a total of 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) in bribes, including an ancient Chinese sutra that was made of gold. In return, Fan helped contractors win contracts for construction projects in Guiyang.
