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China sentences official to death for taking $325M in bribes

bbc.com

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Re: China sentences official to death for taking $325M in bribes

#31

Post by casey2 »

TrackerFF wrote: post #8

I sometimes see people "celebrate" this, with the rationale that China is cracking down on white-collar crimes and handing out sentences unheard of in the west. But, are these sort of things just examples of selective prosecution? Would the inner circle members of CCP leadership realistically face the same prosecution and sentencing, if they were to be caught doing the same?

The top is already pushed with prisoner for life. In a tiered society a well functioning country focuses on the tier that is current bottleneck.

Re: China sentences official to death for taking $325M in bribes

#32

Post by lysace »

throwaway27448 wrote: post #29
TrackerFF wrote: post #8

I sometimes see people "celebrate" this, with the rationale that China is cracking down on white-collar crimes and handing out sentences unheard of in the west. But, are these sort of things just examples of selective prosecution? Would the inner circle members of CCP leadership realistically face the same prosecution and sentencing, if they were to be caught doing the same?

At least they try to appear anti-corruption—that's certainly more than you can say about the west.

Don't confuse "the west" with the US. The US is less than half of "the west".

Re: China sentences official to death for taking $325M in bribes

#33

Post by onion2k »

lonely_wanderer wrote: post #13
onion2k wrote: post #5

I don't really understand the mentality of people who do this sort of criminal activity. If he'd stopped after, say, $5m and just retired he'd probably have managed to get away with it. Continuing to such a ridiculous degree through sheer greed led him to a death sentence. That's just plain stupid.

In for a penny, in for a pound. Unless you are extremely crafty, you don’t get to retire from this sort of criminality. Everyone who enabled you wants more and you have a semi-permanent metaphorical sword hanging over your head.

Unless you are extremely crafty, you don’t get to retire from this sort of criminality.

He got away with it for 30 years. That shows at least some level of craftiness.

Re: China sentences official to death for taking $325M in bribes

#34

Post by greenavocado »

vitally3643 wrote: post #23
lonely_wanderer wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In for a penny, in for a pound. Unless you are extremely crafty, you don’t get to retire from this sort of criminality. Everyone who enabled you wants more and you have a semi-permanent metaphorical sword hanging over your head.

Or you use your single digit millions of currency to buy an island and retire for a decade or two while everyone forgets you exist

One does not simply move money out of China

Re: China sentences official to death for taking $325M in bribes

#35

Post by [deleted] »

onion2k wrote: post #5

I don't really understand the mentality of people who do this sort of criminal activity. If he'd stopped after, say, $5m and just retired he'd probably have managed to get away with it. Continuing to such a ridiculous degree through sheer greed led him to a death sentence. That's just plain stupid.

[deleted]

Re: China sentences official to death for taking $325M in bribes

#36

Post by toomuchtodo »

TrackerFF wrote: post #8

I sometimes see people "celebrate" this, with the rationale that China is cracking down on white-collar crimes and handing out sentences unheard of in the west. But, are these sort of things just examples of selective prosecution? Would the inner circle members of CCP leadership realistically face the same prosecution and sentencing, if they were to be caught doing the same?

A win is a win. Could there be more wins? Glass is half full.

Re: China sentences official to death for taking $325M in bribes

#37

Post by throwaway27448 »

lysace wrote: post #32
throwaway27448 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least they try to appear anti-corruption—that's certainly more than you can say about the west.

Don't confuse "the west" with the US. The US is less than half of "the west".

Are you claiming Europe is not obviously corrupt? Or Latin America? Or Korea, or Japan? I can't speak to Australia or New Zealand, I suppose.

Corruption is, of course, universal. China has a corruption problem that will be eternally difficult to tackle from the top-down—local officials are notoriously much more corrupt than central ones. But in the west, we simply pretend to not have the issue at all, or we simply make it legal. I would prefer if our politicians or popular media could at least acknowledge this.

Re: China sentences official to death for taking $325M in bribes

#38

Post by grvbck »

NooneAtAll3 wrote: post #14
TrackerFF wrote: post #8

I sometimes see people "celebrate" this, with the rationale that China is cracking down on white-collar crimes and handing out sentences unheard of in the west. But, are these sort of things just examples of selective prosecution? Would the inner circle members of CCP leadership realistically face the same prosecution and sentencing, if they were to be caught doing the same?

You're trying to approach from the wrong side it's not a question of "prosecute this one or the other person" - it's the choice between "prosecute this one or nobody" thus celebration that at least something got done

I understand that perspective to some degree, but imagine a hypothetical country with say, two parties in power, where prosecutors only crack down on white collar criminals if they are supporters of one party and not the other. We would call that system corrupt, and probably not celebrate that at least some of the criminals face justice.

Also, from a practical standpoint, charging some and not others is not necessarily better if the selection is made politically. That moves the needle from "at least something got done" to "law is just a tool of oppression".

Re: China sentences official to death for taking $325M in bribes

#39

Post by iamacyborg »

starik36 wrote: post #9
onion2k wrote: post #5

I don't really understand the mentality of people who do this sort of criminal activity. If he'd stopped after, say, $5m and just retired he'd probably have managed to get away with it. Continuing to such a ridiculous degree through sheer greed led him to a death sentence. That's just plain stupid.

Think of Breaking Bad. His wife literally asked him this same question. When is it enough? It's a mentality where you can't stop.

Breaking Bad is a work of fiction.
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