Chinese county chief bought three Maseratis, 28 watches and jade with 100 million yuan in bribes
Bian Fei, a Communist Party official in Hebei province, whose death sentence was suspended for two years after admitting corruption, promoted staff for 1.5 million yuan a month in bribes
A Chinese county official spent 100 million yuan (HK$120 million) he received in bribes on three Maserati sports cars, 28 luxury watches and dozens of pieces of luxurious jade, mainland media reports.
Bian Fei, a former Communist Party chief of two impoverished counties in Hebei province, was found to have been paid monthly bribes of more than 1.5 million yuan – 300 times his monthly salary – from 2008 to 2013, when he was expelled from the party for corruption, the China Discipline Inspection Newspaper, affiliated to China’s anti-graft authority, reported on Thursday.
Bian, an avid reader of fashion and luxury product magazines, spent more than 43 million yuan on jade and the 28 luxury watches, the most expensive of which had cost more that 5 million yuan.
He had just placed a down payment on his third Maserati when he was placed under investigation by Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in 2013, the report said.
Bian had also spent some of his ill-gotten money on three Buddhist drawings featuring spells, plus emerald jade items, to help “protect” him from corruption investigators”, the report said.