Today Evening News
July 16, 2008

Yesterday marked the opening of the trial of Yan Dabin, the former director of the transportation bureau in Chongqing's Wushan county, and his wife in Chongqing Second Intermediary Court. Yan is charged with accepting bribes while his wife is charged with money laundering. The news story was first printed yesterday in the Chengdu Business News and was reprinted by today's Today Evening News.

On January 1, a local police station in Chongqing received a phone call from a resident of an apartment complex complaining that water was leaking from the ceiling. The police station sent an officer to help the service personnel (who are not allowed to enter the property without the owner's permission) to inspect the problematic apartment.

In the bathroom of the vacant apartment, the police found not only an over flowing toilet but also eight conspicuous cardboard boxes soaked with water. Upon opening, the cardboard boxes were found to conceal 9.39 million yuan. Director Yan was the owner of the apartment.

Yan was arrested on March 28. Further investigation revealed Yan's had been hiding over 22.26 million yuan, mostly composed of bribes paid by local construction contractors who bought favors while bidding for local projects. The article reported that this 22.26 million is equivalent to over 20% of the county government's annual legal income.

The newspaper article also quoted a government official saying that this is the first prosecution of money laundering that is related to corruption in China since China revised its criminal law in 2005; this case will set a precedent for the prosecution of similar crimes in the future.