Pay As You Go: Leaky Toilet in China Reveals Millions in Soggy Bribes

Chinese authorities have shown the importance of maintaining properly running toilets — your life could depend on it. Yan Dabin was the former director of transportation for Wushan County in southwest China. He was arrested after a resident in his apartment building called police about water leaking through his ceiling. When the police arranged for the apartment to be opened with a maintenance worker, they discovered the problem: eight soaked cardboard boxes containing 9.39 million yuan ($1.3 million) from bribes.

Yan Dabin was ultimately found to have collected 22.3 million yuan ($3.2 million) in bribes exchange for awarding contracts for road and bridge construction. He has been sentenced to death. His wife has been sentenced to three years for money laundering (no joke) of more than 9 million yuan ($ 1.3 million). However, she did not use the plumbing to launder the money but in a series of house purchases.

The story shows how China is still a fledgling political system. In the United States, our politicians have the class and wherewithal to store their cash in wrapped bundles in the freezer, here.

For the full story, click here.

5 thoughts on “Pay As You Go: Leaky Toilet in China Reveals Millions in Soggy Bribes”

  1. Fortune has smiled on me today. Just reading an article from the Ann Arbor wiccan rag and guess what “popped up” (as it were)? Certainly, this man should have read this article before he hid things in the toilet.

    “Death begins in the colon…

  2. Don’t be silly. Our politicians have standards: they store their cash in the frig.

  3. Bribery, kickbacks and Government corruption, China is closer to US democracy than I thought. This guy should run for US Congress, he’s obviously qualified to be Speaker of the House.

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