Chapter 2910 Corruption Case

Shortly after Duan Peng and his working group left Shazhou, the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection issued a notice stating that Shao Hongli and Ding Wenbo were suspected of serious violations of laws and regulations. Ding Wenbo was removed from all his posts. Since Shao Hongli was already dead, no further details were provided.

It seems like things are over, but that's just the end of the storm at the top; the real impact on the sandbar has only just begun.

According to the investigation by the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, Shao Hongli and his family members embezzled and accepted bribes totaling more than 70 million yuan through various means and channels, making it an epic corruption case.

Because Shao Hongli embezzled a huge amount of money, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection was furious, and the Provincial Party Committee personally supervised the case. Although Shao Hongli was already dead, the investigation into his case was still demanded to be carried out to the end. As a result, the further investigation into Shao Hongli's case continued again, and the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, together with the Shazhou Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and several other departments, once again established a special task force to investigate Shao Hongli's case.

As the investigation continued, not only were all of Shao Hongli's family members arrested, but all the businessmen and companies closely associated with Shao Hongli were also affected.

Those most affected were, of course, Shao Hongli's "disciples and followers" in the Shazhou officialdom.

Although Qin Feng has purged a portion of Shao Hongli's influence in the Shazhou officialdom over the past few months, Shao Hongli has been in Shazhou for many years and has a vast base of influence. Qin Feng only eliminated the upper echelons; Shao Hongli's influence in the middle echelons remains.

Moreover, Qin Feng mostly only reassigned staff; he didn't actually remove anything.

However, this investigation into Shao Hongli's corruption case almost completely wiped out everyone in Shao Hongli's faction within the entire Shazhou officialdom. By arresting one high-ranking official under Shao Hongli, everyone along that line from top to bottom was also apprehended.

Seven or eight such high-ranking officials were arrested.

This anti-corruption campaign can be considered the largest corruption case in the history of Shazhou City. In just over a month, more than 20 cadres at the section level and above in Shazhou City were investigated and punished. Almost all of Shao Hongli's faction was wiped out. From then on, Shao Hongli and his faction became history in Shazhou's political arena.

The province's crackdown on the corruption cases of Shao Hongli and Ding Wenbo this time was extremely strong. Qin Feng could roughly guess the province's intention. With such a high-level corruption case occurring in Gansu and Liangshan, it was extremely embarrassing for the province, and the province bore a great responsibility. Therefore, they simply turned a bad thing into a good thing, making the corruption cases of Shao Hongli and Ding Wenbo a benchmark for anti-corruption in Gansu and Liangshan, raising the banner of anti-corruption and integrity in Gansu and Liangshan, turning a bad thing into a good thing, and turning a mistake into a merit.

Of course, Jiang Longjun and Qin Feng both support this point, because it is beneficial to both of them. The province has a responsibility, and the person with the greatest responsibility is Jiang Longjun, followed by Qin Feng.

Because the province turned this "funeral into a celebration," the originally egregious corruption case involving Shao Hongli and Ding Wenbo was transformed into an anti-corruption campaign, and the social impact was not as bad as expected. Therefore, the higher authorities did not handle the matter as severely as anticipated.

Jiang Longjun himself had a strong background in the province. What he feared most was that Zhao Hongjian, the powerful deputy secretary of the provincial party committee, and Pang Yunfei, the organization minister, who he had never been able to get in touch with, would not let him off this time. So he reached an agreement with Qin Feng from the beginning. He supported Feng Changjun to enter the Standing Committee and take over as executive vice mayor. In return, Qin Feng helped persuade Zhao Hongjian and Pang Yunfei not to make trouble for him.

Qin Feng kept his promise and helped Zhao Hongjian and Pang Yunfei plead on Jiang Longjun's behalf.

In fact, Qin Feng was also thinking of himself. Jiang Longjun was responsible for this matter, and he certainly was too, but Jiang Longjun, as the top leader, bore a greater responsibility.

However, as long as the higher-ups treat Jiang Longjun leniently, the accountability measures against him will also be lighter.

The final result was indeed like this: Jiang Longjun and Qin Feng did not receive any public punishment, but they were criticized in an internal notice, which was the lightest possible punishment.

Of course, the lenient punishment was due to several factors. First, the province turned a bad situation into a good one, thus cooling things down. Second, Jiang Longjun had a strong background in the province. Third, Zhao Hongjian and Pang Yunfei did not make any moves.

For more than a month, the entire political scene in Shazhou has been very calm. After all, so many things have just happened, and the provincial discipline inspection commission's investigation team has been in Shazhou, with news of new people being investigated coming in from time to time. Under such circumstances, who would dare to act recklessly?

Qin Feng focused on two things during this period. The first was the several projects that Huayang Group had taken over. As Qin Feng gained complete control of the municipal government, the government's support for these projects increased significantly. A month later, these projects were finally on track, and Qin Feng was finally able to relax.

The second task was to stabilize the situation in the municipal government and to make extensive personnel adjustments and appointments.

With Ding Wenbo's surrender and Shao Hongli's death, coupled with the provincial party committee's determination to get to the bottom of this case, Shao Hongli's faction members were dug up and taken away one by one. Most of these people were from the government. Although this removed the cancerous tumor of Shao Hongli's faction from Shazhou City, it also brought enormous pressure to the stability and normal operation of the Shazhou Municipal Government.

Aside from being concerned about several projects of Huayang Group, Qin Feng has been focusing all his work on the "three guarantees" of the municipal government: maintaining stability, ensuring smooth operation, and ensuring efficiency.

The key to the "three guarantees" work is personnel adjustment. Vacancies created by arrests must be filled immediately, and unsuitable personnel must be adjusted immediately.

Of course, personnel adjustments are the most important and sensitive issue, especially since this is a large-scale personnel adjustment.

Qin Feng didn't need to worry too much about personnel adjustments at the middle and lower levels, but this time many important positions were vacant all at once, and these positions were highly sought after, coveted by everyone.

Although many of these positions are in the government sector, and in theory the mayor should have the final say on Qin Feng's case, in reality, the mayor doesn't have much power in personnel adjustments; the real decision-maker is Jiang Longjun.

There's a saying that goes something like this: the mayor is in charge of the purse strings, while the party secretary is in charge of the official hat.

Jiang Longjun couldn't possibly be so kind as to give Qin Feng the whole piece of the pie. Of course, although the official positions were under Jiang Longjun's control, he couldn't possibly leave Qin Feng with nothing. After all, Qin Feng was the one who did the work and managed the money. If he didn't give Qin Feng any official positions, then Qin Feng wouldn't give Jiang Longjun much face when it came to money in the future.

Therefore, the Party Secretary and the Mayor have a tacit understanding in this regard.

In addition, this was a special case, and Jiang Longjun needed to give Qin Feng face. He also hoped that Zhao Hongjian and Pang Yunfei would put in a good word for him. Therefore, in this round of personnel replenishment, Jiang Longjun gave half of the positions to Qin Feng, took 30% for his own people, Deputy Secretary Tang Zeyan took 10%, and the rest of the leadership team members took 10%.