Chinese Prime Minister Fights Corruption

By Greg Donaldson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Prime Minister Wen Jiabao is taking a stand against corruption within the Chinese government and its officers. Mr. Wen was quoted in the Qiushi (a conservative Communist Party journal) when he stated “the government must hold officials accountable for corruption that occurs on their watch and make the results of corruption investigations open to public inspection.”

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has vowed to fight corruption within the Chinese government (Photo Courtesy of The Guardian)

Mr. Wen has taken strong stances against corruption since the February scandal surrounding former Chongqing party leader Bo Xilai. Mr. Bo’s wife, Gu Kailai, is accused of murdering Neil Heywood, a British businessman. It is believed that the Bo’s and Mr. Heywood had a good relationship until a financial dispute. It is alleged that after the financial dispute Gu Kailai arranged for the killing of Mr. Heywood.

As a result of Mr. Heywood’s death, Mr. Bo was removed from his political positions and party officials released a report which accused him of “serious disciplinary violations.” Government officials have hinted that Mr. Bo will have criminal charges filed against him in the future.

Analysts believe Bo’s case creates a major dilemma for top officials. If the government only reveals small portions of evidence against Bo it will lead many to believe he was removed solely for political reasons. If the accusations are very serious in nature, many will ask how Bo was able to become so powerful. Furthermore, people will begin to wonder how powerful other government officials are and what activities they may be involved in reports The Guardian.

Prime Minister Wen has proposed several focuses that he believes will help halt corruption in the government. In the article published by Qiushi, Mr. Wen demanded that priorities be given to the reforms in the administrative examination and approval system, the allocation of public resources, and many other services provided by the government.

One of the changes Mr. Wen hopes to see in the current system is local governments immediately responding to and investigating problems reported by the people and the media, and publicizing the results of various investigations in a timely manner.”

Mr. Wen explained the importance of upholding the law throughout the country. He explained “China is a socialist country ruled by law, and the dignity and authority of the law cannot be trampled… there is no special citizen before the law. It does not allow any special party members to override the law within the party.”

For more information please see:

International Business Times – Wen Jiabao Again Warns of Threat Posed By Corruption – 16 April 2012

New York Times – Prime Minister Calls for Corruption Crackdown in China – 16 April 2012

China Daily – Premier Wen Vows Greater Anti-Corruption Resolve – 15 April 2012

The Guardian – Wen Jiabao Promises Crackdown on Corruption in China – 15 April 2012

Beheadings, Torture, Murders continue in Mexico

By Brittney Hodnik
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MEXICO CITY, Mexico – Mexican authorities still have very little control over drug cartels and drug violence in Mexico.  The groups are still kidnapping, torturing, and murdering civilians to show signs of their territory and to display other threatening messages.  In the last 48 hours, 24 bodies were found tortured or beheaded in the western state of Michoacan.

Michoacan is a small port state in Southwestern Mexico

According to the Latin American Herald Tribune, these acts are based around a local drug war between rival drug cartels.

The Washington Post describes the victims as each having a black plastic bag over their heads with a single gunshot wound to the back of their neck.  Also, threatening messages accompanied the bodies.  Just two days prior, nine bodies were found in another Michoacan town.  The bodies had been tortured and beheaded.  An Associated Press reporter saw police and soldiers carry away the bodies and heads.

The Washington Post reports that drug cartels often behead victims as a threatening message in itself, to intimidate rival gangs, usually over territory disputes.  The most recent display was likely the work of the New Generation gang, according to The Weekly.

Along with these killings, eight taxi drivers were killed in northern Mexico and three bystanders were injured, according to The Huffington Post.  Public security spokesman, Jorge Domene Zambrano said that four gunmen shot five drivers outside of a base office, and the other three men were killed later, a few blocks away.  This is where the bystanders – including an 8-year-old girl – were injured, reports The Huffington Post.

Mexico continues to have many problems with violence.  The major problem tends to be with drug gangs, but random civilian violence prevails as well.

For more information, please visit:

The Latin American Herald Tribune — Cartel Turf Battle Claims 9 More Lives in Western Mexico — 13 Apr. 2012

The Weekly — Seven Tortured, Bound Bodies Found in Mexican Port — 13 Apr. 2012

The Washington Post — Seven Tortured, Bound Bodies Found in Western Mexico Port City, With Warnings Signed by Drug Gangs — 12 Apr. 2012

The Huffington Post — Mexico Taxi Drivers Killed by Gunmen, 3 Bystanders Injured — 11 Apr. 2012

Former Russian Finance Minister Kudrin Tries To Explain Why $1 Billion Was Stolen From The Russian Budget In Connection To The Magnitsky Murder On His Watch And He Did Nothing

Hermitage Capital Press Release
Originally Sent April 11, 2012

In an extraordinary statement issued on his political website, former Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin explained how it was not his fault that $1 billion was stolen from the Russian treasury on his watch between 2006 and 2010 through a corrupt scheme uncovered by Hermitage Fund’s Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky (http://akudrin.ru/news/otvety-na-voprosy.html#.T4Szz3lJri8.twitter).

In his statement referring to the illegal approvals of tax refunds for millions of dollars, Mr. Kudrin said: “Employees of the Treasury cannot challenge the appropriateness of such a decision. Neither the leadership of the Treasury, nor, especially, the leadership of the Ministry of Finance interfere in this process.”

This statement came in response to a series of 7 public questions to Kudrin from Andrei Illiarionov, an opposition politician, posted in his blog  on ‘Echo of Moscow’ website (http://www.echo.msk.ru/blog/aillar/875912-echo/), challenging Alexei Kudrin after an independent investigation by a Russian newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, uncovered that the same officers from the Federal Tax Service and the same organized criminals who were involved in the $230m theft that Sergei Magnitsky discovered, stole a further 11.4 billion Rubles in ($444 m) in 2009 and 2010. These thefts were in addition to another $240m that were stolen under the guise of “tax refunds” by the same group of officials and criminals in 2006 and 2007.

“It is remarkable that the man whose responsibility was to protect the finances of the Russian state could say that he shouldn’t interfere when crimes were going on under his nose, in which $1 billion was stolen directly from the Russian treasury,” said a Hermitage Capital representative.

Mr. Kudrin was also asked what he did when he learned about the theft of the $230m that Magnitsky discovered. He said: “I did not have this information in my possession then, but based on what I learned from the media reports at the time, I verbally asked the leadership of the Interior Ministry, if they were looking into it, and received an affirmative response… Neither the Ministry of Finance, nor I, at that time as Minister of Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, had the authority [to investigate the thefts].”

In fact, his statements about his lack of knowledge are directly contradicted by a series of petitions from Hermitage Capital seeking his intervention immediately after the illegal refunds were uncovered in 2008 and 2009. Hermitage Fund’s representatives wrote to Minister Kudrin providing detailed evidence of the involvement of tax officials in the thefts,  including 15 August 2008 (http://russian-untouchables.com/rus/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/D410.pdf) and again on 13 October 2009 (http://russian-untouchables.com/rus/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/D411.pdf). The first letter described evidence of the theft of $230 million via tax inspections No 25 and 28 in Moscow which took place within one day, on 24 December 2007. The second letter described 10 transactions used by the same tax inspections in Moscow to steal a total of $470 million from the Russian budget during 2006-2008. There was no answer to the first letter. The reply to the second letter signed by Deputy Finance Minister Shatalov on 28 October 2009 (http://russian-untouchables.com/rus/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/D412.pdf) said: “The Finance Ministry does not have authority to investigate the facts of budget thefts stated in your application.”This letter was sent 19 days before Sergei Magnitsky was killed in custody after exposing the officials perpetrating these thefts.

“It is notable that Alexei Kudrin fails to mention that not a single government employee had been charged or prosecuted for these successive crimes totaling $1 billion of budget funds over 4 years since they were discovered. It beggars belief that he thinks it is an acceptable explanation and he did nothing to stop the situation when he learned about it,” said a Hermitage Capital representative.

“This is further evidence that the Russian budget is no longer functioning for the Russian people, but is now an unrestrained source of financing for corrupt officials and organized crime,” said a Hermitage Capital representative.

For further information please contact:

Hermitage Capital

Phone:             +44 207 440 17 77
E-mail:             info@lawandorderinrussia.org
Website:          http://lawandorderinrussia.org

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Twitter:           @KatieFisher__
Livejournal:     http://hermitagecap.livejournal.com/