Businesswoman in China charged with railway graft: state media

Beijing: China charged a well-known businesswoman, who has ties to a disgraced former railways minister, with bribery and illegal business activities on Monday, state media reported. Ding Shumiao, helped 23 businesses win railway construction contracts and funnelled 49 million yuan worth of kickbacks to former railways minister Liu Zhijun, the official China Daily said, citing Beijing prosecutors. She also “offered sexual favours to Liu by arranging an unidentified number of women for him”, the paper said. There was no immediate comment from either Ding or her family about the report. [caption id=“attachment_1095337” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Image used for representational purposes. AFP[/caption] The China Daily report said Ding also intervened in bidding for dozens of railway contracts through her relationships with ministry staff and engaged in illegal business operations valued at 178.8 billion yuan. It appeared to be yet another example of the graft on which China’s ruling Communist Party has been cracking down. President Xi Jinping has said graft threatens the party’s survival. Ding, 58, had humble beginnings as an egg seller but over three decades built a business empire with interests in the coal business as well as China’s high-speed rail system. Officials began an inquiry into Ding when an auditing authority found a state-owned enterprise paid nearly 100 million yuan to her company, the China Daily reported. After a high-profile trial this summer, Liu received a suspended death sentence, a uniquely Chinese punishment that usually amounts to life in prison, for taking bribes and steering contracts to associates. Ding and her relatives accumulated 4 billion yuan in profits over several years with Liu’s help, the China Daily reported. Other ministry officials have been charged with corruption and abuse of power. Zhang Shuguang, a former senior official with the Railways Ministry, was charged last Tuesday with accepting more than 47 million yuan in bribes over 11 years. China’s Railways Ministry suffered a major blow to its image when a 2011 crash between two bullet trains killed 40 people. Funding high-speed train lines has left China’s railway system mired in debt. Reuters