The "tiger" that wreaks havoc on "family style" corruption has been opened up! Local Commission for Deepening and Thoroughly Investigating the Issues of "Branding" and "Lifting Baskets" Supervision | Yi Pengfei | Lifting Baskets

Yesterday, the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission announced that Yi Pengfei, a former member of the Party Group and Vice Chairman of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, has been expelled from the Party and held public office. In the Shuangkai notice, it was mentioned that Yi Pengfei "was not upright in himself, leading the whole family astray, indulging and tacitly allowing relatives to use his power to influence and seek personal gain, and engaging in" family style "corruption.".

According to the notice, Yi Pengfei has lost his ideals and beliefs, deviated from the political principle of "two safeguards", violated the Party's purpose, and failed to fulfill his main responsibility of comprehensively and strictly governing the Party; Ignoring the spirit of the central eight point regulations, illegally accepting gifts and gifts, and accepting banquets; Violating organizational principles, appointing individuals solely for personal gain, and selling officials and titles on a large scale; Being dishonest, leading the whole family astray, indulging and tacitly allowing relatives to use their power to influence and seek personal gain, engaging in "family style" corruption, and illegally owning shares in non listed companies; Violating regulations and interfering in market economic activities; Greed for pleasure, lose interest in playing things, addicted to playing cards and mahjong; Greedy and unrestrained, arbitrarily using power, engaging in power and money transactions, taking advantage of their position to seek profits for others in business operations, engineering contracting, and illegally accepting huge amounts of property; Abuse of power causes significant public property damage.

Yi Pengfei was the "first tiger" of Hunan Province after the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. He was born in May 1962 in Yiyang, Hunan and has been working in Hunan Province ever since. Starting as a clerk, he has served as the Deputy Director of the Hunan Provincial Development and Reform Commission, the Mayor of Huaihua City, the Mayor of Loudi City, and the Secretary of the Chenzhou Municipal Party Committee.

Since 2008, Yi Pengfei has successively served as the Deputy Secretary and Mayor of Huaihua Municipal Party Committee, Deputy Secretary and Mayor of Loudi Municipal Party Committee, Secretary of Chenzhou Municipal Party Committee in 2015, Vice Chairman of the Hunan Provincial Political Consultative Conference in 2018, and stepped down in January of this year. On the day of Yuanxiao (Filled round balls made of glutinous rice-flour for Lantern Festival) this year, Yi Pengfei's official announcement was investigated. Two days before falling off the horse, Yi Pengfei was still attending the meeting.

On the 8th day after Yi Pengfei's fall, Zhang Qingwei, then Secretary of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Congress, presided over a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, announcing the decision of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission to conduct disciplinary review and supervisory investigation on Yi Pengfei, and proposing to thoroughly investigate "branding" and "basket lifting".

The meeting of the Standing Committee of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee emphasized the need to deepen the use of cases to promote reform and governance, quickly carry out special rectification of conflicts of interest among leading cadres throughout the province, and thoroughly investigate the behavior of leading cadres themselves, their relatives, and specific stakeholders in "branding" and "basket raising". It is understood that "playing cards" and "carrying baskets" both come from Hunan dialect and are important manifestations of familial corruption.

In Hunan dialect, "carrying a basket" is a metaphor that refers to some people using the power or position of leading cadres to act as intermediaries and provide assistance in public resource transactions, helping others gain benefits and seeking personal gain. "Playing a sign" also means doing things under the banner of a leader. The issue mentioned in this double opening notice is related to "one's own misconduct, causing harm to the whole family, condoning and tacitly allowing relatives to use one's own power to influence and seek personal gain, and engaging in" family style "corruption.".

It is worth noting that several fallen officials who previously served as the Secretary or Mayor of Loudi City also have a "family style" corruption problem. It is reported that Yi Pengfei served as the Deputy Secretary, Acting Mayor, and Mayor of Loudi City from June 2011 to March 2015. During this period, Gong Wusheng, who served as the Party Secretary with him, has also been overthrown. Li Jianguo, who took over as the Mayor and Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee of Loudi, and Yang Yiwen, who took over as the Mayor of Loudi from March 2016, have also been ousted.

As a typical example of familial corruption, on the day Yang Yiwen fell from power, his wife Li Xiangjiang also declared herself under investigation. On November 19, 2021, Yang Yiwen's sister, former director of the Human Resources Department of Changsha Radio and Television Station, Yang Wenli, was also investigated by the disciplinary commission for serious violations of laws and regulations.

In order to rectify the two chronic diseases that affect the political ecology around illegal business and "brand" and "basket", the discipline inspection and supervision organs of Hunan Province have made successive efforts to strengthen warning education. In March of this year, the secretary of the Hunan Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection had a collective conversation with the spouses of nearly 130 department-level "top leaders", warning and reminding leading cadres and their spouses to pay attention to family style and family education.