Chine : République Populaire de la Corruption

Chine : République Populaire de la Corruption

Han Leong, 65 years old, is a retired former craftsman. Like more and more Chinese, He is exasperated by the widespread corruption in his country. Except he decides to shout it out loud. He diverts revolutionary fields and his militancy earns him constant harassment from the police. Hold, a phone call. If they are friends, I take. But if it’s the secret police, no way. All the bastards. Ah, it’s the police, I don’t pick up. It is my legal right. Come on, I lock it up and forget about it. If this activist is so closely monitored, This is because he is well known in Chongqing. Twice a week, he will harangue passers-by in a town square. Comrades, Corruption does not fall from the sky. It concerns us all. It harms all of our interests. Here, Corruption affects all executives, from the smallest to the largest. For what There is only one reason. Absolute power. This is absolute corruption. Words that were unthinkable in the public square not long ago. The Assembly approves, but remains silent. And for good reason, The square is full of plainclothes police officers. If the people unite, We can get rid of corruption. There are 1.3 billion of us. It only takes 100 million to rise up, And they’re screwed. Suddenly, the police intervene. One of them leads our cameraman to the station while the activist is taken away. The microphone continues to record his protests. We will be questioned for a few hours. The activist, as for him, will spend the night at the police station. In China, Corruption is a sensitive subject. This scourge is eating away at power right up to the highest levels of the state. Table mats, blackmail, diversion. A bundle, It’s 12,000 euros. In two years, 300,000 Communist Party officials were punished. They’re all corrupt. In fact. They are all sharks. The embezzled sums amount to billions. A forbidden investigation into a phenomenon called the Foundation of the Regime. Making a documentary about corruption in China is a perilous exercise. From the start, we have experienced the worst difficulties. First of all, Our application for a journalist visa was refused. So we sent a cameraman with a tourist visa. On site, our team was spied on, photographed, followed, then arrested and finally deported. The authorities tried to erase our images. Fortunately, without success. It took us a year of hard work to make this film. Our investigation begins in central China, in Xinjiang, an industrial city of one million inhabitants. Zhu Ruifeng is a citizen journalist. He is coming from Beijing. His specialty, hunt down corrupt communist officials. Good morning, Have you been waiting for me for a long time? I just arrived. You are the representative of the villagers. Yes, it’s me. Today, He was called by a group of villagers to investigate a corruption case. This citizen journalist is known throughout the country for his audacity. I have denounced many sensitive cases. My posts have been banned. I have been beaten several times, kidnapped by common frames. The villagers are counting on him to publicize a scandal that has broken out in their village. It all happened a few kilometers from Xinjiang, to Beitie. Here, as everywhere in the country, Communist officials hold full powers. This man is the secretary of the local Party, he is one of those who make the law. He is the one suspected of corruption. At the heart of the scandal, these agricultural lands. Just a few months ago, They were cultivated by peasants. It was their only means of subsistence. But the party secretary expelled them. This official, that we see here on the construction site, sold the land to a real estate developer. The village representative takes the citizen journalist to the roof of a building to explain the situation. Today, here, corn no longer grows. But a housing and commercial complex on more than 250 hectares. This is where the developer builds the residences. Before, It was our land. They were cultivated. The peasants had a 30-year lease to cultivate these lands. Why did the party secretary break the lease? The citizen journalist has his idea. If a party cadre does illegal things, it is because he finds a financial advantage in it. He takes bribes. The worst, This is because the peasants were very little compensated for these lands which are worth their weight in gold. I heard your allowance is 3 euros per square meter. That’s it, Yes. And they resold it for 90 euros per square meter. 90 euros, Yes. And you think that the party executives and the promoters were divided? The difference Yes, Yes, That’s it. Thanks to this sale, The local Communist Party pocketed nearly 240 million euros. One person wanted to report this illegal operation to the authorities in Beijing. He is the mayor of the village, a 73-year-old man, highly respected by the locals. But the party secretary took this denunciation very badly. Result, He had the mayor imprisoned eight months ago. In China, The party has control over the police and the justice system at its discretion. The arm wrestling is always unequal. The citizen journalist meets the mayor’s lawyer in front of the prison. They are worried about him. At any time, The old man can be beaten up in his cell. When you go to see him, Tell him that some journalists have arrived. It will do him good. As the lawyer enters the visiting room, Zhu is called by a guard. No, don’t film, don’t film. His presence and our camera are disturbing. But the citizen journalist is not impressed by the uniforms. In our country, in China, We have two kinds of journalists. Official journalists, those who flatter, and we, citizen journalists. The truth is revealed, we don’t lie. I say who I am, who I come to interview. Like that, The police will take care of the village chief. They will not hit him, as often happens in China. During this time, inside the prison, The lawyer manages to film the old mayor with his phone. He is tired and handcuffed, but not resigned. He sends a message of resistance. I’m doing well, I’m doing well. What do you want to say to the villagers? We must continue to be determined. The real victory must belong to the people, and not to the corrupt. Despite these months of detention, The mayor’s determination has still not been shaken. But his imprisonment is experienced as a cruel injustice by the villagers. Our mayor is a good leader. He is very good to the people. Do you all like it very much? Yes, a lot. We feel like we owe him. We are sorry, Yes, really sorry. Don’t cry. The media will reveal the truth. The citizen journalist now goes to the mayor’s family in Beitie. His house is one of the most modest in the village. By discovering the images taken in the prison, his wife is upset. The journalist will try to reassure her. Look at your husband’s pictures. Look, he smiles. He’s doing very well. Very quickly, The neighbors flock to shout their anger. We should no longer have the right to say long live the Communist Party. We don’t arrest the corrupt and honest people are in prison. The neighborhood seems on the verge of explosion. When you do things for the people, that you are not corrupt, you don’t take money, we’re arresting you. You don’t ask for gifts, you don’t have a feast and you end up in jail. This visit did not escape the party agents. We are followed and photographed by this man wearing a fur collar coat. A little later, The dispossessed villagers gather in front of the developer’s office. Dispossessed of their lands, they no longer have enough to live on. They rely on the citizen journalist to help them, because it lends the media the almost magical power to make their voices heard. All the way to Beijing. Suddenly, The citizen journalist receives a call from an official close to the local Party secretary. He asks her to leave. The leaders are informed of these actions thanks to the man with the fur collar who always follows us. If you talk to me like that, we’re not going to be friends. Very quickly, the villagers kneel to implore justice, as their ancestors did centuries ago, before the emperor’s envoys. With your promoter, you are occupying state land. You occupy the peasants’ land. To put it another way, There has been corruption among you. Listen to the voice of the villagers. They are crying. You heard their voice We will film everything and put it on the Internet to allow China and the whole world to be informed about this man’s misdeeds. Come on, I’ll call you back when I have time. I have work. The history of this village is far from being an exception. It’s even more the rule. In China, Corruption is linked to the central role played by representatives of the Communist Party. These officials give authorizations for the smallest actions on a daily basis. And everything goes through stamps. A stamp to buy land, a stamp to move, and even a stamp to have a second child. An obligation in the land of the only child. This power of the stamp, officials today use it without hesitation. Philippe Grangerot, journalist living in Beijing for ten years, denounces this system of bribes which is eating away at the entire bureaucracy. To be a civil servant, It is a way to make money through corruption. And in an almost Machiavellian way, a lot of young people who apply for competitive examinations to enter the civil service, They have this idea behind it. And when they are asked at the entrance to the office where they are going to take the entrance exam, they say it straight out, They say that, anyway, it’s a way to get rich, This is the only way to really make money. In China, If corruption is so widespread, it is because it is part of a tradition, that of gift culture. It is especially visible during the New Year. It manifests itself in the form of these little red envelopes, in which there is money. And that we distribute among the family. This tradition has extended to the business world. But between gifts and corruption, the border is sometimes difficult to draw. Back to Paris. Nicolas Berbigier is the founder of a travel sales website. He wanted to create his Chinese version, so he moved to Beijing in 2008. He lived in the country for five years and worked with a team of 150 people. He and his partner Lionel Baraban are well aware of this gift culture. It is certain that, whatever we do administratively, we can possibly round off the corners a little, either by giving a small gift, A bottle, cigarette cartridges, or sometimes even a little bit of money, those famous red envelopes in which we give money. In the journey, we offer… Every now and then, a trip. Is this corruption? A little, maybe, but it’s part of what exists there. You just have to learn to live with it and acclimatize. What were the largest amounts? I believe that the biggest things we, we had to offer, it’s something like, Indeed, 500 euros, 1000 euros. These are the maximum ceilings that we had on, either legal operations, either judges. That, This is really corruption. Pay a judge to avoid a trial. It’s a common thing. These two entrepreneurs were prosecuted for having used, without permission, a photo on their website. They risked a fine of 30,000 euros. By paying the judge a month’s salary, They got away with an amicable procedure which cost them only 3,000 euros. And to hear them, corrupt, It’s quite an art. And art, it’s about knowing who to pay, when and how. You don’t just walk up to someone’s house and say, “Come on, I made you an envelope and it just happened, don’t worry.” It doesn’t work like that. So, we have to find a way to pay without the person opposite feeling corrupted. You have to find the right moment, the right opportunity and the right person. Subtle codes that are difficult to escape when doing business. In China, in the business world, Corruption has become routine. So, some business owners set aside a special budget for kickbacks. We contacted a Chinese entrepreneur. He agreed to show us how they corrupt a civil servant. He filmed a fraud with a hidden camera and sent the video to us over the Internet. As often, everything happens around a good meal. Our contractor is on the left. He is a road builder, he wants to get a new job. The man in the center is the intermediary of an official who must give his authorization. And when it comes to talking about money, the word bribe is carefully avoided. Good, for my construction site, how do we do it then? As we said, the costs are 12,000 euros. You give me your bank card number, as agreed. I’ll already transfer you 2300 euros. Then, if we have the authorizations, once the work has started, I will send you. The rest, in a single payment. The intermediary immediately takes out his credit card. With his number, The entrepreneur will transfer him an initial sum the next day. In total, the business manager will have to pay the equivalent of three years’ salary. Hold, and in addition, Here’s a little gift. It’s alcohol, gong-dong. Ah, Thanks a lot. To our collaboration. The entrepreneur is obliged to pay this kind of bribe very regularly. But once you get caught up in the cycle of corruption, it is sometimes difficult to get out of it, without risking his life. We are in the suburbs of Paris. This is where the Chinese businessman found refuge. He arrived in a hurry to escape death threats from a civil servant, secretary of the Communist Party. I’ve been here for a year. Are you a refugee? Yes, That’s it. Come in, You’re welcome. Son of a peasant, he had succeeded through his studies. He owned a waste recycling company in northeast China. But they had to pay colossal bribes. It is impossible to escape the appetites of local potentates. At the end of the year, I had a list that I was checking off. How much I offered, to whom. The amounts depended on the person’s status. For a small business, like us, That was around 100,000 euros in gifts. That represented. How much of your profits? About 50 to 60%. We had no choice, If you don’t give gifts, your business will fail. In 2011, The entrepreneur wants to expand and transform his small waste treatment plant into an ultra-modern factory. He wants to make furniture from biodegradable plastic. He convinces an investor to contribute nearly 12 million euros and he already imagines, with this huge factory, listed on the stock exchange. But the head of the local Communist Party will be very greedy. A day, he summons the entrepreneur to his office. The chief came to get me to talk. He told me, such an important project, It means there is money. You must plan something for us. If you want to grow, you have to give me money. I am the local emperor. It’s my word that counts. If you don’t want to give me the money, I don’t give you permission to expand. He is demanding more than 2 million euros in bribes from him. A huge sum that the entrepreneur is unable to raise. The project is blocked. But one day, The local party leader threatens to eliminate him. He fears that the entrepreneur will report his blackmail to the authorities in Beijing. I hid, because he told me that if I didn’t do it, They would send me. The mafia. They threatened to kill me if I didn’t leave the city. The business leader runs away as far as possible, to France, with the feeling of an immense waste. Since the early 90s, China is undergoing unbridled economic liberalization. In 20 years, The country has become the second largest trading power in the world. Today it has 1.3 million millionaires. This sudden influx of money has turned heads. Shanghai, 24 million inhabitants. It is one of the most prosperous cities in the world. On the Bund, the equivalent of the Champs-Élysées, The ultra-rich show off their luxury cars. This young woman’s car costs the equivalent of 80 years of average salary. Why I chose this car How to say I hesitated a lot between several brands. We talked about it with my parents. Eventually, I found the Maserati suited me better, because it is very elegant. And the white color, It’s good for women. In China, to display. His wealth has become a symbol of success. In big cities, luxury boutiques are multiplying. The ultra-rich spend lavishly. All this waste of money is beginning to scandalize the population, who barely earns 300 euros per month. This former Tiananmen Square activist sees rising anti-rich sentiment in the country, because many fortunes have been made through corruption. Everyone envies the good life. But of course, as soon as people know a little more about the underlying economic reality, their feelings change. There, often, we feel anger or great injustice. This anger against the rich, and especially against the corrupt, is expressed massively on the Internet. Some decided to attack the crook. On the web, a new kind of hunt is all the rage, that of outward signs of wealth. This internet user explains the rules to us. For example, this head of security in a small town. What betrayed him, It is a collection of luxury watches, incompatible with a salary peaking at 500 euros per month. Internet users started reviewing all these watches. Look at. They are worth several thousand euros each. He had more than 80. The online test triggers an official investigation. The official was eventually sentenced to 14 years in prison for corruption. During our investigation, We discover that some Internet users go even further. They catch officials red-handed in corruption and post the videos online. Here, For example, Someone used his phone to trap a police officer. We see a motorist slip him a ticket. The official pockets it without even turning around. There, This building permit official accepts a wad of bills from his desk. It was a colleague who recorded it with a spy camera. In Beijing, We have an appointment in the north of the capital. We meet in his offices the citizen journalist whom we had accompanied to visit the expropriated villagers. He too has made the Internet his favorite weapon. Today, He puts the farmers’ photos online. A way to put pressure on the corrupt official. Look at, It’s in front of the developer’s building. This is not the journalist’s first attempt. His record is impressive. He managed to bring down a hundred crooks in 8 years. What’s in this library? All this, These are all the files and evidence that I have accumulated during my investigations, on corrupt executives. All these investigations, he publishes them on the Internet. His best scoop, this video. It shows a civil servant having sex with a prostitute. This case concerns an entrepreneur who offered girls to party members to obtain contracts. Except that day, The prostitute trapped the official by hiding a camera in the room. Our citizen journalist retrieved the video and posted it online. I chose to put a love song above to allow the party secretary to be highlighted in his performance. In China, The video spread like wildfire on the internet. Faced with the scandal, The official was dismissed three days later, then sentenced to 13 years in prison. It lasts 12 seconds. 13 years in prison for 12 seconds. Internet users mocked our officials. Imagine, Communist Party members who are supposed to serve the people pray to do unspeakable things all day long. This anti-corruption crusade means that journalists are regularly threatened. To protect yourself, he transformed his house into a fortress. It’s an alarm system. I can trigger it when I have a bad visit. He also had five cameras installed outside his apartment. This is my surveillance system. He is permanently connected to the Internet. The executives I denounce often have a lot of power. They send their men to arrest me or gangsters to kidnap me. His surveillance system has protected him several times. The proof, a video that preserved it. There, Police officers wanted to intimidate him after the release of his infamous sex tape. That, He is a Beijing police officer. And both with cigarettes, They are plainclothes police officers. That day, ZHU refuses to open the door and asks for help. The police will leave empty-handed. The citizen journalist knows this well. In China, Exposing corruption can lead to limitless violence. We are going to the south of China, in Guangdong, in Huizhou. We have an appointment with a man who wrote accusatory articles on his blog about officials in his city. In July 2013, he suffered an acid attack which disfigured him. As he takes us to his home, The driver draws our attention to a car. You can film the vehicle passing by. Look. Plate 3018, Is that it? He was already following us on the way there. It must be the secret police. “They are very professional. They overtake us and then they slow down so you can pass them.” The vehicle disappears. But a few kilometers further, We are tailed again by another car. “There’s a new car behind us. The black one over there.” “The 4721?” ” Yes, That’s it. The day of the attack, in July 2013, Lee was also followed by a car. She suddenly rammed his vehicle to force him to stop. Three men come out, armed with knives and a bottle of sulfuric acid. Li then takes us to his home to show us the photos taken during his hospitalization. The memory of the horror is still very present. That, These are the photos of my injuries. This is my back. He was hit by acid. They came from behind, That’s it No, from the front. They were aiming at my face. I turned my head to avoid the acid. They wanted to make me blind, but it went to the side of my face. They also wanted to cut off my hand, but I had a watch. She took part of the stab wound and ultimately they couldn’t cut her. Two months of hospitalization, an ocular prosthesis and two grafted fingers. He almost lost his life. I had thought of an attack, but not to the CRC. I was sure they wanted my life. But I couldn’t imagine anything so cruel. Suddenly, his wife interrupts the interview. “The police are coming!” “Hide the memory card!” We try to hide the camera, without success. About twenty police officers arrive and take us all to the police station. The island remains for a few hours. Our cameraman’s visa is canceled. He will have two days to leave the country. If the authorities are so tense, It’s no coincidence. In China, Corruption is a matter of life and death for the regimes in power. It crystallizes the anger of the population against its leaders. 1949. The communists led by MAO came to power by winning the hearts of the people through their frugality. The Chinese were fed up with the extreme corruption of the current leaders. 1989, we forgot it, But anti-corruption slogans sparked protests in Tiananmen Square. After half a century in power, The Communist Party now finds itself in the hot seat. The repression is bloody. To make her forget, Deng Xiaoping, the supreme leader, launches its famous slogan “Get Rich”. But the sudden influx of money will increase corruption tenfold. 25 years have passed. Today, The newly-elected president, Xi Jinping, has realized that corruption has once again reached a critical level. In November 2012, upon his appointment, He promises to do everything possible to carry out a major clean-up operation. The party, internally, faces multiple challenges. Some executives are corrupt. They are increasingly distant from the population and pretend to work. We must intensify our efforts to clean up the party from top to bottom. The future of the party depends on this great clean-up. This is what Lin Zhe thinks. This professor trains future communist leaders in a top school, the equivalent of the ENA in France. According to her, The party must react quickly. Corruption has penetrated every level of our system. This endangers the very foundations of our power. It’s scary. If everything is rotting, from the foundations to the roof, the building will collapse. It’s only a matter of time. As soon as he came to power, The president launches an unprecedented wave of investigations against the corrupt. These rare photos show the interrogation rooms of the party’s much-feared Central Disciplinary Commission. In 2013, 180,000 civil servants will be questioned there, then sanctioned. The authorities want to show that no one will be spared, not even foreign companies. In July 2013, Several pharmaceutical multinationals are under fire in the government’s anti-corruption fight. They are detaining executives from the British GSK. French company Sanofi is also accused of corruption. In September 2013, The national channel CCTV reveals a scandal in this hospital. She accuses a subsidiary of Danone, Dumex, to distribute bribes to impose his brand of milk in this maternity hospital. The journalists obtained bank statements from several doctors and nurses who received money. According to the list of transfers made in July, Dumex sent money to seven people at the hospital. According to Chinese television, bribes ranged from 50 to 800 euros per month, More than two months’ salary. Corrupt staff, then forced the young mayors to use the Mexican brand of milk. In total, The Danone subsidiary is said to have donated 350,000 euros worth of bath pots to around ten hospitals. This scandal is making headlines even in France. The Danone subsidiary admits the facts after an internal investigation. It is reshuffling its management in China. A great blow for the regime, who wants to prove to the Chinese population the effectiveness of his campaign. The party’s new message is being taken very seriously. But money has penetrated the system so much that the challenge seems insurmountable. Beijing, Plastien-Hannemeyen. This is where the proximity of power and money is most evident. Every year, in March, This is the launch of the major political event of the year, the National People’s Assembly. 3000 people’s delegates converge from all over the country. They are there to approve laws already decided by the party. There are national minorities, the stars of the regime, like Mao’s grandson, and also billionaires. This communist parliament has a unique feature in the world. It is the largest concentration of the ultra-rich. In all, 80 billionaires sit on it. Their combined assets exceed 65 billion euros, the equivalent of the annual salary of 18 million Chinese people. Nothing shocking, according to this rich man here, meritorious. People who are a little more comfortable than others deserve to be here, because they have contributed to the country. Netizens are shocked to see so many billionaires representing them, and so much luxury on display. This political meeting, They even nicknamed it Beijing Fashion Week. In 2013, this MP, daughter of a former Prime Minister, is pinned with a 1,500 euro jacket, 5 months salary. This other delegate, a bag worth 7,500 euros, more than 2 years of salary. Price jacket, Designer boots or fur coats are displayed like trophies. We wanted to meet one of these millionaires at the heart of power. Direction Nanking, in southern China. Chen Guangbian is the only MP who agreed to talk to us about corruption. In ten years, He became one of the magnates of construction materials recycling. His fortune is estimated at 540 million euros. This millionaire, who likes to be eccentric, has invented a bio-fire extinguisher that he tests on his employees. You can wash your face with it, and also the teeth. He also sells cans of clean air. You feel and you will be in a good mood for the day. And he doesn’t hesitate to pound his Mercedes to promote cycling. It’s funny, No This is the magic of reforms. The son of a peasant who was starving is now a millionaire in dollars. It took Chenguangbian several months before he agreed to be filmed talking about corruption. Surprisingly, he chooses to display the color of his fortune. It is carefully stored in a shielded room, filled to the ceiling with cash. A yas, It’s almost 12,000 euros. In all. There are more than 12 million. This incredible mountain of tickets, Chen assures us that he amassed it completely legally, unlike, according to him, of many businessmen. Over the past 30 years, Many entrepreneurs have become rich. 70% made their fortune through corruption, by buying party cadres. Me, I only have second or third-rate projects. For what Because I’m not like many entrepreneurs who, as soon as they earn money, water the officials. I have never given a penny to a civil servant. And if I had done it, I would have won dozens, or even hundreds of times more. A few weeks later, to the National People’s Assembly, This time our billionaire is much less talkative with journalists. I come to do my job. What I think, Go look on the internet. He keeps a low profile and also avoids our team. Come on, Goodbye. This year, The delegates received instructions. You have to be discreet. The mood has changed. Since the launch of the president’s anti-corruption campaign, sobriety is essential. The minister left her 1,500 euro jacket in the closet. She was photographed with a canvas bag. Richard Hartz is France Inter’s correspondent in Beijing. He has been following the sessions of Parliament for a long time. He, too, noticed a clear difference. It’s certain that this year, There is no meal, of parties, as there were in other years. There is no important banquet. On the car side… They came more, I have the impression, by bus from the hotel to the Assembly, while they were mostly private cars, generally German brand, other years. If the delegates are so discreet this year, The anti-corruption campaign has caused heads to roll on the very benches of the Assembly. 14 delegates are missing. Among them, three big fish. Chen Anzhong, Qin Daoming, Both party officials in the provinces, and Li Dongsheng, former Deputy Minister of Security, Accused of violating party discipline, in short, of corruption. The most spectacular catch of the Chinese president is this man, Bo Xilai, member of the political bureau. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in September 2013 for corruption. Bocillai was the great rival of the current Chinese president, Xi Jinping. Both are sons of Mao’s comrades-in-arms. They are called the “red princes”. From a young age, They were destined for the highest positions. Bocillai’s trial has revealed the excesses at the highest levels of the Communist Party. He showed how the leader used corruption. To sit, his power. We are leaving for Chongqing, in central China. This city of 30 million inhabitants was Bo Xilai’s stronghold for 4 years. In 2008, He was appointed head of the Communist Party. Very quickly, he builds popularity. He spends lavishly on his city. The locals are won over. Throughout the country, We are talking about the Chongqing model. He becomes a media phenomenon. The Chinese compare him to Kennedy. But the problem, is that its model is financed by racketeering and a system of large-scale corruption. For that, he relies on a super-cop Wang Litun, known for his muscular interventions in front of the cameras. It’s him. Seen here leading an assault. Bo and Wang will form the infernal duo of Chongqing. To finance these expenses, Bo, The politician, asks his city’s entrepreneurs to put their hands in their pockets. Those who refuse will be punished by Wang, the policeman, during a so-called anti-mafia campaign. They will arrest 5,000 people in 3 years. This lawyer has defended several of them. Not everyone who donated money got into trouble during the anti-mafia campaign. Those who did not provide any were investigated. They were given any kind of charge. It was no problem finding some. That was Wellington’s job. Trials are being held. The defendants saw all their property confiscated. Boussilaï is said to have recovered nearly 12 billion euros for his city. And by the way, he became very rich. As proof, his son’s lifestyle, Bougouagua. His son studies at the best universities, in the United States and England. He frequents elite circles, sports and polo. All this costs. dearly, 40,000 euros per year, just in tuition fees. Yet, officially, his father, the leader, earns half as much. So how does he offer his son the Playboy lifestyle? And the Champagne party, where the young man likes to show off Now settled in the south of France, An English entrepreneur worked with Beau’s family for several years. At the time, J.O. House sold hot air balloons in England. Bocilla’s wife had contacted her to buy several. He remembers that during the transactions, she made no secret of their taste for luxury. She showed us pictures of her son in the United States, having fun, driving his new Ferrari. It was ridiculous. She was supposed to be a communist. And the worst, it’s that her husband, who was an authoritarian leader, considered a diehard, was actually extremely corrupt. Bocillaï’s wife is a former lawyer. She relies on the family’s reputation to do lucrative business. During their many meetings, The entrepreneur realizes that she wanted to discreetly sell large amounts of money. The money came in cash. She didn’t want to leave any traces. But we, We had to put it in the bank. She became furious. She really didn’t want the money to appear anywhere. BO’s wife asks him for fake invoices. He refuses and ultimately does not do business with her. The IBO woman has an estimated fortune of over 100 million euros. And as is often the case with wealthy Chinese, they invest abroad. Account worldwide, real estate companies, numerous apartments and villas, especially here on the Côte d’Azur. But all that will fly apart. It is by this man, Neil Hewitt, that the drama will happen. The British businessman manages all their investments, until the transfer of money abroad, in exchange for commissions. But one day, He demands more and makes threats if he doesn’t get what he wants. In November 2011, Bo Xilai’s wife decides to eliminate him. She summons him to a hotel in Chongqing, the money, the whiskey, and poisons him. The businessman dies during the night. Only one knows, Wang Litun, the super cop. This murder would have remained secret if the police officer had not been scared. Fearing for his life, He fled to the American consulate. His asylum application is refused. Beijing arrests him. He will reveal all the secrets of the Bo family to the authorities. An official investigation is launched. The National People’s Congress in March 2012 was Bo Sillae’s last public appearance. His defense no longer convinces anyone. There are many people who gossip about the management of my city, who speaks ill of my family and me. They say my son is studying abroad and driving a red Ferrari. Just rumors. I am offended. Bossilai, His wife and Wang Litun would be brought to justice within a year. Super cop sentenced to 15 years in prison for defection, corruption and concealment of evidence. Bo’s wife at the… Suspended death sentence for murder, Boussilaï, as for him, gets life imprisonment for embezzlement, abuse of power and corruption. Activists invited us to share the traditional fondue. They followed the Beau family saga with passion. Today, They wanted to talk to us openly about it. They believe that in this spectacular affair, The fight against corruption has been a weapon for political score-settling. They accused him of taking more than 2 million euros in bribes. Any village chief can take 10 times more. This has nothing to do with the fight against corruption. They’re all corrupt. In fact. The Boussilaï affair, It is rather a case of a struggle for power within the Communist Party. Yes, that’s for sure, They are all sharks. One thing is certain, with this case, President Xi Jinping got rid of his main rival. Since 2012, in the four corners of the country, Men and women take to the streets to denounce the party’s opacity. They are called new citizens. They hold up banners with the same demand written on them each time, the publication of executive assets. We recovered a video shot by a group of activists in March 2013. In the heart of Beijing, They unfurl their banners and harangue passers-by. My friends, Today you are asked to sign and send text messages. Xi Jinping must implement transparency regarding the assets of cadres. And if he doesn’t… We demand his immediate resignation. Yes, Yes, we support you. 15 minutes later, the police are coming. Since this demonstration, Many activists have been imprisoned for disturbing public order. Because what they are really asking for, beyond transparency, This is democracy. Like this figure of the movement, imprisoned for a year. No matter how degraded and rotten society may be, This country needs courageous citizens to stand up. I ask you to unite, to make joint efforts so that it exists. The power of citizens, democracy, the rule of law and justice. For all these committed citizens, Democracy is the only effective bulwark against corruption. They know that without political openness, China has little chance of getting rid of its scourge. Will the new president’s anti-corruption campaign be enough to save the regime? Nothing is less certain, because this big reveal is a double-edged sword. It has the merit of cleaning up the bureaucracy, but it also reveals the turpitudes of men in power, from the grassroots to the highest level of the state.

Dès son arrivée à la tête de la Chine, le président Xi Jinping a lancé une campagne anticorruption sans précédent. L’affaire la plus retentissante a été l’arrestation de Bo Xilai, candidat pour prendre la tête du parti communiste, déchu après des révélations sur le système de racket mis en place par ses proches.
Dirigeants qui profitent de leur position pour s’enrichir, élus locaux qui exigent des pots-de-vin, fonctionnaires qui monnayent leurs coups de tampons, la corruption touche toutes les strates de la société et suscite une colère grandissante de la population. Anne Loussouarn dévoile une face cachée du miracle économique chinois.