Chou He’s political past： the developer of the temple worshipping Buddha sent US dollars to help him ＂donate merit＂
On the morning of September 26th, 2008, Chou He, then secretary of Kunming Municipal Party Committee, attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the largest jewelry city in China, with an investment of RMB 2.8 billion.
On March 20th, Kunming, the demolished old Luosiwan market became the new Luosiwan commercial center, and the old merchants were forced to move to the new trade city developed by Zhonghao Group more than ten kilometers away.
On December 27th, 2008, Chou He, then secretary of Kunming Municipal Party Committee, attended an activity ceremony, with a medical adhesive tape on his hand.
Chou He
Born in Binhai, Jiangsu Province in January 1957, he was once called "the most controversial party secretary" because of the drastic reform, and was regarded as the representative of personality reform officials in China.
Since 1996, Chou He has served as deputy mayor, acting mayor, mayor and secretary of the municipal party committee in Suqian, Jiangsu Province. In 2006, he served as deputy governor of Jiangsu Province. At the end of 2007, he was transferred to the Kunming Municipal Party Committee Secretary. At the end of 2011, he served as deputy secretary of the Yunnan Provincial Party Committee.
On March 15th this year, CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced that Chou He was under investigation for "serious violation of discipline and law".
Yesterday, the Standing Committee of Yunnan Provincial People’s Congress decided to remove Chou He from the post of NPC deputy.
Just after the two sessions this year, Chou He, a personality official, ended his political performance in an unexpected way.
Starting from Shuyang County, Chou He’s name is inseparable from "reform". Measures such as official rectification, urban construction demolition and environmental management made him win the popularity of political voices quickly, but reporting and criticism also went all the way.
A Kunming official described Chou He’s style as "like driving a huge city tank and running over it all the way." He said that the "revenge-style" style of rapid reforms has brought a new look to the city. However, the "crushing" ruling method also left room for rent-seeking, and Chou He’s "rule by man" became more and more intense.
When the dispute arose, Chou He once said that his goal was to "promote the rule of law by the rule of man". Scholar Shi Pengfei had expected this, and proposed that the perfect result of "Chou He New Deal" should be to "cultivate mature opposition". However, before "promoting the rule of law", Chou He had fallen because of "ruling by man".
Chou He’s "right-hand man"
In December, 2007, Chou He was transferred from the post of Vice Governor of Jiangsu Province to Yunnan as the secretary of Kunming Municipal Party Committee.
"I went to work in Kunming, where people and land are sparse, and I have no relatives or reasons with everyone; Never worked together, and have no hatred or resentment with everyone; Alone, without attachments; Work will be selfless and fearless. " This is Chou He’s "Eight No Words" just arrived in Kunming.
In fact, he is not "alone".
On March 18th, three days after Chou He’s fall, Xie Xinsong, member of the Standing Committee of Kunming Municipal Committee and vice mayor, was also suspected of serious violation of discipline and law, and was investigated.
Three months after Chou He arrived in Kunming, Xie Xinsong, then deputy secretary and district head of Sucheng District Committee of Suqian City, followed him to Kunming as deputy secretary-general and office director of Kunming Municipal Committee.
In 1998, starting from the Deputy Director of the Research Office of Shuyang County, Xie Xinsong followed Chou He for 13 years and served as his secretary. According to media reports, Xie Xinsong is very familiar with Chou He’s ruling ideas and has a strong understanding. He is Chou He’s right-hand man who vigorously promotes reform in Suqian.
An official in Suqian commented that when Chou He went to Kunming, he also brought his right-hand man. Xie Xinsong was the "right-hand man" and Liu Weigao was the "right-hand man". One was a competent secretary and the other was in charge of commercial development.
After Chou He’s fall, Liu Weigao’s name surfaced, and he was known as the "mysterious wealthy businessman" behind Chou He.
Liu Weigao was a deputy to the National People’s Congress and the chairman of Zhonghao Commercial Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Zhonghao Group).
On March 17th, two days after Chou He’s fall, official website of Zhonghao Group posted an announcement: Liu Weigao applied to resign as the chairman of Zhonghao Commercial Group Co., Ltd. for personal reasons.
At the end of February this year, at an internal meeting of Suqian Municipal Committee, an official confirmed that Liu Weigao was under investigation and therefore missed this year’s National People’s Congress on sick leave.
The mysterious wealthy businessman recently became the focus of media attention, which was his snail bay project in Kunming.
According to media reports in 2011, the whole process of the land transfer auction of the Luosiwan project lasted only about 5 minutes. On March 16, 2011, Yunnan Zhonghao Real Estate Co., Ltd. acquired 27 plots that needed to be bid as a whole with a listing price of 6.487 billion yuan, and the whole transaction took less than 10 minutes.
The relationship between Liu Weigao and Chou He has been widely known since Suqian.
"Liu Bancheng" is a sure-fire business.
In the past, there were two cars with the same license plate running on the streets of Suqian City, Jiangsu Province: Su N00000. One license plate once belonged to the secretary of the municipal party committee, and the other black one belonged to Liu Weigao.
Today, Liu Weigao’s real estate projects in Suqian include residential areas, shopping malls, office buildings, entertainment facilities, etc., which occupy almost half of Suqian New Town. Therefore, Liu Weigao was nicknamed "Liu Bancheng".
In Suqian, Liu Weigao’s political resources are almost an open secret: Chou He.
In 2003, Liu invested 2 million yuan in Suqian to establish Fenna Stocking Industry Co., Ltd.. Wang Ming (pseudonym), a local entrepreneur in Suqian, recalled that after the establishment of the socks factory, Liu Weigao fully demonstrated his "social skills" and used his identity as an investor to move around in Suqian officialdom. At one time, the Suqian municipal government gave gifts to foreign officials and merchants, many of which were "Fenasi" socks.
Wang Ming recalled that the connection between Liu Weigao and Chou He originated from a visit to Yiwu by Suqian Municipal Government. Chou He has always been interested in Yiwu’s business model. During the inspection, Liu Weigao organized a reception and a visit, which won the opportunity to communicate with Chou He.
A senior official of Zhonghao Group revealed that Liu Weigao had done a lot of homework and read Chou He’s thoughts in order to understand Chou He’s ideas of attracting investment.
At this time, Suqian’s investment promotion work has just been put on the right track. In 2002, Chou He brought the nationwide investment promotion model in Shuyang to Suqian, requiring 1/3 cadres to leave their posts for investment promotion and 1/3 cadres to start businesses in rotation.
At that time, an official in charge of investment promotion recalled that the two million projects brought by Liu Weigao already belonged to the "big projects" that Suqian could attract. Therefore, after Liu Weigao introduced the model of Yiwu Commodity City to Chou He, Chou He decided to copy the model of Yiwu Commodity City to Suqian. The executor of this decision is naturally Liu Weigao.
A wholesale market in Suqian City, which was built in 1997, became an experimental field. However, during the demolition, Liu Weigao proposed that the reconstruction scale of the original site could not be expanded. Later, the municipal government granted another piece of land for Liu Weigao, with an investment of 2.6 billion yuan from Liu Weigao. On August 1st, 2005, Suqian Yiwu International Trade City broke ground.
In the eyes of other entrepreneurs, this project is almost a "one-way ticket" from Chou He to Liu Weigao. After the old market is demolished, the old merchants can only choose to buy shops in the new trade city, and the plots in the old wholesale market can also take over and continue to develop.
Wang Ming, who is also a developer, estimates that Liu Weigao has made a net profit of at least 780 million yuan for this project, and has since become the most famous businessman in Suqian.
Wang Ming recalled that Liu Pingping rarely dealt with local entrepreneurs. Every time he saw Liu, he followed Xie Xinsong, then secretary of Chou He. Another developer said that Liu Weigao’s land acquisition in Suqian at that time was carried out through Xie.