Thieves targeting homes of officials aid in anti-graft investigations

The first thing most of us would do if our home was burglarized would be to call the police. Unless, of course, you're a corrupt official.

Police in Dalian, Liaoning Province recently arrested an eight-member gang of thieves who confessed to swiping more than 2 million yuan ($325,812) in cash and valuables from the homes of two city government bureau chiefs.

The group later revealed to investigators that such officials make ideal targets. They often possess large amounts of cash at home and other goods that they would be reluctant to alert authorities if any of it happened to go missing.

Both the group members and burgled officials are currently under investigation, the Tianjin-based City Express reported on September 23.

The case in Dalian is just one example of anti-graft investigators getting help from such unlikely informants.

As anti-graft campaigns continue to pick up momentum, an increasing number of women claiming to be the mistresses of officials have tipped off authorities to their lovers' illicit finances.

The cases have spurred widespread public discussions as to whether anti-graft investigators should increasingly rely on thieves and other informants in ferreting out corrupt officials.

Easy money

Wang Shengli, 34, a farmer from Zhumadian, Henan Province, led a gang of thieves in plundering millions of yuan in cash and other goods from the properties of at least 50 officials in Anhui, Henan and Shanxi provinces since September 2011.

The six-member group reportedly broke into home of Zhao Xing-hua, former Party chief of Zhengyang county, Henan Province in 2011 and made off with more than 1 million yuan and two bottles of Moutai, a high-end baijiu.

Wang decided to specifically target the homes and offices of government officials under the assumption those suspected of corruption would be unwilling to file police reports and draw unwanted attention to their finances.

His hunch proved right - very few police reports were ever filed by those officials, The Beijing News reported.

The gang was finally apprehended in December 2012 after a victim, a Party chief of a bank in Zhengyang, reported the break-in of his home to police.

In an attempt to cover his tracks, Zhao ordered local police to fabricate a report saying that the gang stole only 6,040 yuan, medial reported.

However, Wang later told anti-graft investigators the gang had confessed to police they had stolen much more. He also claimed that local police divvied up the confiscated cash and goods among themselves.

When Zhao was probed for suspicion of corruption in August 2013, he confirmed Wang's claim to disciplinary investigators that 1 million yuan was stolen from his home.

Despite this information, Wang and his accomplices were charged in March 2014 for the theft of 6,040 yuan.

During his hearing, Wang told the court how police had altered his confession - information that triggered an official investigation into Wang's case in April.

Two police officers were found to have colluded with Zhao to persuade the thieves to accept the fixed testimony in exchange for a more lenient sentence.

The city's disciplinary watchdog later uncovered evidence that police officers had altered other details of Wang's confession so as not to implicate other officials.