Chen Liangyu answering a question at a press conference in Shanghai in 2002.
In 2008, Chen Liangyu, the former mayor and Communist Party boss of Shanghai, was sentenced to 18 years in jail for abuse of power, dereliction of duty and accepting bribes totaling $340,000. Chen’s corruption came to the surface when government auditors discovered that $4.8 billion had disappeared from Shanghai’s pension funds, and Chen was found to have siphoned off the money to finance and real estate enterprises as loans beginning in 1988. The pension fund fraud scandal shook Shanghai around 2006 and 2007, and resulted in the arrest of 30 prominent politicians and businesspeople. Chen pleaded “not guilty” and claimed in court to be only “partially responsible.” Chen was also prosecuted for allowing his brother, Chen Liangjun, to acquire land for development despite not possessing the proper qualifications. The brother then sold the land use rights and illegally earned $19.2 million.
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