Who controls the ups and downs of mining industry?
On the occasion of Li Yizhong’s resignation as director of the State Administration of Work Safety, a corruption case involving the highest level in the safety supervision system in recent years is under intense investigation.
On February 21st, 2008, Li Jiucheng, director of the Henan Provincial Administration of Work Safety, was taken away by CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection for investigation. According to the statement from Henan safety supervision system, this is a typical "collusion between government and coal" case suspected of tens of millions.
In recent years, cases of violation of law and discipline in safety supervision system are prone to occur, high-frequency and frequent, especially in handling administrative license for safety production, accident investigation, safety inspection, safety qualification assessment, qualification management of safety training institutions, training assessment, and recommendation of safety equipment and materials.
At present, the profiteering of small coal mine owners has become the biggest obstacle to safety rectification. Corresponding to the high profits of coal mining enterprises, the salaries of people in the safety supervision system are relatively low-the subsidies they can get at most are only 200 yuan.
Is it a system that such a huge gap between the supervision and the supervised has been ignored and ignored for a long time? Is it a policy?
Shanxi, on the other hand, is planning another grand plan: to integrate small coal mines with complete licenses, whether state-owned or private. Clear coal mine property rights, under the regional strategy, have no choice but to carry out according to the time limited by the policy.
In the absence of normal and sound property rights transactions, how to ensure the legitimate and reasonable interests of all parties and prevent the recurrence of the Li Jiucheng case under mandatory resource integration?
For the safety supervision system, the shock caused by Li Jiucheng’s falling horse is no less than a mine disaster.
On April 4, 2008, Zhao Anqing flew to Ningbo, Zhejiang Province in a hurry. Here, the annual meeting of China Work Safety Report is being held here. The meeting has been going on for several days. As the leader of the State Administration of Work Safety, which is directly in charge of China Work Safety News, Zhao Anqing, who has always been present on time, was "late" without any warning, which made the reporters of the always sensitive work safety news feel "ominous".
It’s not that there has been another mine disaster, but the news is no worse than this.
"Li Jiucheng’s case is basically finished". The reporter of Work Safety finally got the only sentence from Zhao Anqing. But the news has been shocking. Zhao Anqing’s other identity in the State Administration of Work Safety is the head of the discipline inspection team of CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in the State Administration of Work Safety.
"This is definitely the first major case since the upgrading of the State Administration of Work Safety. Never before has a director-level official been investigated for problems other than the responsibility for safety accidents. " "Everyone is shocked," commented a person from the Henan safety supervision system who has been in close contact with Li Jiucheng since 2002.
On February 21st, 2008, at the Lantern Festival in Wuzi Year, at about two o’clock in the afternoon, Li Jiucheng, then director of the Henan Provincial Administration of Work Safety, was suddenly taken away by the discipline inspection department for "cooperating with relevant departments to investigate". Things happened quite suddenly. The day before, Li Jiucheng also presided over the annual work conference on production safety in Henan Province and delivered a speech on the stage.
Li Jiucheng’s statement that tens of millions of yuan is involved in economic problems is circulated in Henan safety supervision system. "This matter has not yet been released." So far, the Henan Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection has not made any formal response to the reporter.
Just a year ago, Li Jiucheng was the "star" of the safety supervision system. On January 25, 2007, the National Conference on Work Safety was held in Henan. After the speech of the officials of the General Administration, Li Jiucheng made a typical speech on behalf of the local bureau.
One month after Li Jiucheng’s incident, in late March, Zhao Anqing, head of the discipline inspection team of CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in the State Administration of Work Safety, personally rushed to Zhengzhou and held a plenary meeting of the coal supervision system and the safety supervision system, demanding that the two systems cooperate in investigating the case and stressing that every cadre must be "honest and self-disciplined".
According to the people in the safety supervision system who were present at that time, Zhao Anqing was anxious and haggard all the time in Henan, and he was worried.
On March 20th, Li Yizhong made his last speech in the safety supervision system before leaving the post of director of the State Administration of Work Safety. In his speech, Li Yizhong also mentioned that some officials had "extremely individual problems" and were "distressing", and asked everyone to "learn a lesson and take a warning". At that time, the Li Jiucheng case was still under intense investigation.
Since then, the anti-corruption voice in the State Administration of Work Safety has been escalating. Wang Jun, the new director of the State Administration of Work Safety, Zhao Anqing, the head of the discipline inspection team, and Zhao Tiechui, the director of the Coal Mine Supervision Bureau, respectively emphasized "honesty and self-discipline" at different levels of meetings and issued "six prohibitions" on safety production supervision.
In the eyes of people in the safety supervision system, the Li Jiucheng case is at the peak of the property right change of small coal mines in China, and the case behind it is intriguing.
There is a case in the case
Two months have passed, and the relevant departments still haven’t officially notified the cause of Li Jiucheng’s murder. But at the same time, a company named Dengcao Group surfaced.
Five months ago, at the beginning of December 2007, Yuan Zhanguo, the chairman of Dengcao Group, was suddenly taken away by the discipline inspection department during a meeting. A week later, the mine owned by Dengcao Group was informed that Yuan was "double-regulated".
It is also surprising that Yuan Zhanguo’s case was handled directly by CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, and the cause of the case has not been announced so far. Li Jiucheng and Yuan Zhanguo have a close personal relationship, which is an open secret in Henan safety supervision system.
A person in the safety supervision system who has a good personal relationship with Yuan Zhanguo revealed that Yuan Zhanguo has always been a typical example established by Li Jiucheng. The former is not only the latter’s political achievements, but also their personal relationship is good. The last public "intersection" between them occurred in July 2007, when Li Yizhong, then director of the State Administration of Work Safety, visited Dengcao Group, which was accompanied by Li Jiucheng.
Starting from Dengfeng city, drive southwest for about 20 kilometers, which is Dajindian Township. Yuan Zhanguo’s Dengcao Group is located here. At the entrance of Dengcao Coal Mine, there is a long and narrow tunnel connecting adjacent Dajindian Township and Baiping Township, and dozens of coal mines, large and small, are strung together. Every 2-3 minutes next to this tunnel, a heavy truck full of coal drives out.
Dengcao Coal Mine has a long history, and it is the first batch of enterprises named as quality standardized mines in China. It was once rated as "five golden flowers" in township coal mines in China. It has jurisdiction over five coal mines and three non-coal enterprises, with an annual output of about 2 million tons of raw coal.
The groove is short for the groove of gold. There is a river in the mountains here, and the river flows down with sand. Most villagers rely on the sand to find gold for their survival. The wooden trough where the gold was found was their simplest sustenance for getting rich, and then they discovered the coal mine and made a living from it.
On April 15th, when the reporter arrived at Dengcao Group, a group photo of Yuan Zhanguo and some visiting leaders was still hanging at its gate. Yuan Zhanguo in the photo is about 50 years old, with a big round face and short stature.
People in the office of Dengfeng Municipal Committee also told reporters that the case was handled directly by CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, and the local government did not know the details, nor did it have any written materials on this issue.
Judging from the expressions of many miners, Yuan Zhanguo is an authoritarian figure in the Quecao Group. In this collectively owned enterprise, the reputation is almost perfect. "Mr. Yuan is not bad for us. In recent years, the development of Quecao depends on him."
Since 1980s, Yuan Zhanguo has won numerous honors. He is the current deputy of Zhengzhou Municipal People’s Congress and the Standing Committee of Dengfeng Municipal People’s Congress, and was awarded the title of "Top 10 Coal Mine Managers in China". In September 2003, it was awarded the title of "Star of Reform in the New Era" by the National Development and Reform Commission and China Academy of Social Sciences.
It is this low-key and unassuming Yuan Zhanguo that has gradually revived the once-bankrupt old coal mine, and the annual output of the mine has increased from 300,000 tons to 600,000 tons.
After Dengcao Coal Mine gradually dried up, Yuan successively purchased the state-owned enterprise Dengfeng Chemical Plant and Sanyuan No.2 Well, and integrated and expanded Jinyang Coal Mine and Jinling Coal Mine. Six enterprises, including Hua Hui Stone Factory, Jinguang Solar Factory, Jinlong Chemical Factory, Jinling Coal Mine and Jinyang Coal Mine, were newly established in six years by means of joint venture, cooperation, merger, purchase and shareholding system, and the pace of expansion was completed.
The argument from the inside of the safety supervision system shows that Yuan Zhanguo’s "accident" is related to the ways and means of competing for resources in resource integration. At the same time that Yuan Zhanguo led Dengcao Group to "attack the city and pull out the village", the contradictions and conflicts of interest arising from resource integration have already buried hidden dangers. "If the company is big, it will definitely offend people." People in the office of Chengcao Group did not deny this statement.
Since July 2004, the government of Henan Province has decided to integrate the coal and bauxite resources in the province in one to two years to ensure the rational and orderly development of mineral resources in the province.
Driven by this decision, seven coal groups and five aluminum companies were identified as the promoters of integration through joint investigation by 12 government departments. Among them, Dengcao Coal Mine improved the resource utilization rate from 50% to 80% by transforming the small coal mine bought out, which became a successful footnote of this policy.
There are also some grassroots people in the industry who are worried about the hidden dangers of excessive administrative discretion in resource integration and failure to compensate the mine owners for their losses. "This idea of administrative rectification of mining rights will not only lead to corruption and conflict of interests, but also seem to be farther and farther away from the original intention of marketization."
There is a local saying from Dengfeng that Yuan Zhanguo is involved in corruption and bribery, and "other leaders" are implicated, and the amount is not cheap. However, the Chengcao Group is unwilling to believe in the possibility of corruption of this authoritarian figure. "He is the major shareholder of the group, so why is he greedy for his own money?"
Up to now, Dengcao Group has not received a briefing about Yuan Zhanguo, and the group has not appointed a new chairman, and several mine managers are responsible for daily work.
According to the statement from the safety supervision system, in addition to Dengcao Group, mine owners in Yuzhou City and xinmi city were summoned by the Commission for Discipline Inspection for the Li Jiucheng case. However, this statement has not been confirmed by relevant departments.
A "star" official from a trained background
Li Jiucheng has always been regarded as a "star" figure in Henan safety supervision system.
Li Jiucheng graduated from the Department of Coal Mining, Jiaozuo Mining Institute, majoring in underground coal mining. He was born in a regular class. After graduating from college, he was assigned to work in the Coal Mine Hall of Henan Province, and then he went to Peigou Coal Mine, which belongs to Zhengmei Group, for temporary training. Since then, he has successively held leadership positions in the Coal Department and the Safety Supervision Bureau of the Coal Industry Administration. At the age of 39, Li Jiucheng became a CPC cadre and became one of the striking young officials in Henan Province.
In 2000, safety supervision was placed in a prominent and important position. It was separated from the Safety Supervision Bureau originally belonging to Henan Coal Department, and the Coal Mine Safety Supervision Bureau was established, with Li Jiucheng as the director. In 2002, Henan Provincial Safety Supervision Bureau was established, and Li Jiucheng was appointed as the director, becoming the dual director of safety supervision in Henan, a major mineral province.
Since then, Li Jiucheng has been the "star" of the local safety supervision system. In terms of the system innovation of safety supervision, Henan Safety Supervision Bureau has always been an example among the local bureaus of the safety supervision system, which is highly valued by the State Administration of Work Safety. "Before every national meeting, after the leaders of the General Administration made a speech, Chengdu, Li Jiu was the first to speak." A senior reporter from a local coal line in Henan said.
During the first half of 2002, before the State Administration of Work Safety was upgraded to a ministerial-level unit, the relevant departments visited Li Jiucheng and planned to transfer him as the deputy director of the State Administration of Work Safety, but it did not take place for various reasons. A person from the Henan safety supervision system said this.
"Li Jiucheng is the kind of pioneering official who dares to think and do things, but his work style is somewhat simple and rude, which is not conducive to uniting other cadres." On reflection, a person from Henan safety supervision system who is close to Li Jiucheng made the following comments.
Li’s appointment has experienced many mine disasters, such as Daping mine disaster, Xin ‘an mine disaster and "July 29" in Shaanxi County. A safety supervisor who has experienced the mine accident command site described that "Li Jiucheng’s personality is quite suitable for disaster rescue." At the scene of the whole disaster, Li was informal, strict and resolute, which reduced the delay of rescue time because of hesitation.
Due to proper rescue, all the trapped miners in the "July 29" mine disaster in Shaanxi County were rescued. With the cooperation of a local media reporter and a local safety supervision system official, a book tentatively named For the Lives of 69 Miners has entered the final publishing stage of the publishing house. This book spent three months of research time by two authors, and restored the whole rescue process of the "July 29th" mine disaster in detail.
One of the authors admitted that the book was published to introduce the experience of successfully rescuing miners, and Li Jiucheng, as one of the main commanders of the rescue, also occupied an important part of the book.
Under the leadership of Li Jiucheng, Henan Safety Supervision Bureau has been responsible for the innovative exploration within the safety supervision system. The safety supervision and coal management departments of Henan Province took the lead in promoting the "three-appointment" system, that is, the local government directly appointed safety mine managers, technical mine managers and safety commissioners to small coal mines. On this basis, the "safe wage" system is popularized, and production safety is linked with wage income, forming a "4-3-3" wage distribution system, that is, safe wage accounts for 40%, benefit wage accounts for 30% and basic wage accounts for 30%.
In addition, the Henan Provincial Administration of Work Safety also takes the data such as the death rate of 100 million yuan GDP, the death rate of 10,000 people, and the death rate of one million tons of coal as important assessment indicators and promotes them throughout the country. And in the provinces, cities, counties, townships, villages, enterprises to form a six-level security network management, leading the country.
According to various statements from the safety supervision system, the falling cost in Li Jiu is related to the interest transfer between some coal mines. It has always held a high position in the supervision system, and attached great importance to the so-called "loyalty". Some styles of cliques and careless personality inevitably led to the loss of supervision and checks and balances of power.
"I also thought that he might have an accident before, and his style of doing things was too sloppy, regardless of the consequences." A person in the safety supervision system described that Li Jiucheng once struck a table at a deputy director in front of many media reporters at a public meeting, and the scene was very embarrassing.
After the accident, Li Jiucheng’s resume was quickly removed from the official website of Henan Safety Supervision Bureau. In March, 2008, Zhang Guohui, former executive deputy director of Henan Coal Industry Administration Bureau, was appointed as the new director of safety supervision, taking a low-key position.
system
Li Jiucheng case is not an isolated case.
In March 2007, Hu Jianchang, former deputy director of Guangdong Provincial Administration of Work Safety, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. Hu Ceng illegally issued coal safety production licenses and accepted bribes of 100,000 yuan from coal mine owners.
"(Hu Jianchang) clearly knows that there are tens of millions of tons of water on the underground working face. The safety assessment did not mention it at all and must be punished by law." In February 2006, Li Yizhong, then director of the State Administration of Work Safety, commented in his speech.
An earlier case occurred in April 2006, in which Diao Min, director of the Technical Equipment Division of Shanxi Coal Safety Supervision Bureau, four directors of safety supervision bureaus in subordinate districts and counties of Taiyuan City, and the president of Taiyuan Mine Design and Research Institute were successively dismissed. The reason is still that during the integration of coal resources in Shanxi, a major coal mine province, several officials "abused power for personal gain" during the new round of safety license renewal.
Take coal mine as an example, its legal operation must be "complete with six certificates". Six certificates, including coal mining license, coal safety production license, mine manager qualification certificate, business license of enterprise legal person, etc., are issued by the Coal Industry Administration Bureau, the Coal Supervision Bureau, the Department of Land and Resources and the industrial and commercial departments respectively. Among them, the power to issue coal mine safety production licenses lies with the provincial coal supervision bureaus, while non-coal mines are issued by the safety supervision bureau.
Under the current safety supervision system, the State Administration of Work Safety and the Coal Supervision Bureau are co-located at the national bureau level, and the director of the Coal Supervision Bureau is also a member of the party group of the State Administration of Work Safety. In some places, these two departments are often "one team with two brands", and it is more common for one person to concurrently serve as the dual director.
"As far as the coal-mining provinces such as Henan and Shanxi are concerned, it must be that the director of the Coal Supervision Bureau has more real power, and the relative responsibility and anti-corruption are more difficult." A person from Henan Safety Supervision System said. Li Jiucheng, who has fallen this time, is also a dual director.
In 2005, the State Administration of Work Safety was upgraded to "General Administration" and changed from a vice-ministerial unit to a ministerial level. The power of the upgraded safety supervision system has also increased.
Since the second half of 2004, "Measures for the Implementation of Safety Production License for Coal Mine Enterprises" has been promulgated and implemented, and the responsibility of issuing safety production licenses for coal mines belongs to the safety supervision system, which is intended to make safety production dominate the "life and death power" of coal mine development.
But the increase of power is often accompanied by the increase of rent-seeking space. On the premise that the visible hand still controls scarce resources, the price of mineral resources cannot be marketized, and state-owned coal mines can naturally obtain more mineral resources from the government in the form of "resource integration", while private capital is more inclined to obtain and maintain mining rights from those in power in the form of rent-seeking.
"Now the power of safety supervision is too great. Without the certificate issued by them, it is impossible to mine, which is equivalent to mastering the power of life and death. Such power can easily breed corruption. " Li Chaolin, an expert from China Coal Transportation and Marketing Association, commented to reporters on April 14th.
From 2005 to September 2007, the procuratorial organs of Zhejiang Province put on record 27 cases involving 27 people in the work safety system of Zhejiang Province. In the first issue of 2008, a publication of safety supervision system in Zhejiang Province, Safety Production Guide, described the safety supervision system as "high-risk group", saying that it was "at the cusp of competing interests and various contradictions", and it was possible to "stumble" with a little carelessness.
"In recent years, the safety supervision system is prone to frequent violations of laws and regulations, especially in handling administrative licenses for safety production, accident investigation, safety inspection, safety qualification assessment, qualification management of safety training institutions, training assessment, and recommendation of safety equipment and materials." Every possible link of rent-seeking is listed in the publication.
These rent-seeking links encounter huge interest temptations and are easy to spark. In recent years, the domestic raw coal price has advanced by leaps and bounds, reaching a high level of 300 yuan/ton. The cost of some small coal mines is relatively low, and the cost per ton is estimated to be around 100 yuan. According to the annual output of 200,000 tons, the annual profit of a small coal mine is 40 million yuan.
Among them, the loss of safety rectification is the biggest, and it may cost millions if it stops for a few days. "We (coal bosses) also tend to take out some small money to’ get it done’."
The realistic situation of safety supervision income
After Li Jiucheng’s murder, our reporter was surprised to learn from the investigation in Henan and Shanxi that the income of the personnel in the safety supervision system was also heavily mentioned.
In addition to the running-in of the new system of safe production, the hidden danger of corruption lies in the fact that the front-line employees of the safety supervision department have high labor intensity but generally low salary, and they are faced with the lucrative coal mining industry, which is easy to breed corruption.
"No rest during the day, no rest at night" has become the normal work of the staff in the safety supervision system, "but our income has not improved, let alone overtime allowance." A person in the safety supervision system complained like this.
Safety supervision often goes down to the mine, and emergencies happen from time to time. The labor intensity of front-line safety supervisors is often greater than that of ordinary civil servants, and they dare not turn off their mobile phones after work.
According to the relevant national documents, discipline inspection, politics and law, public security, family planning, letters and visits and other departments all enjoy post allowances, but the safety supervision system has been delayed because there is no policy basis, which leads to the failure to issue post allowances.
In the current salary system, the employees’ income of the coal supervision department is paid directly by the central government, while the financial power of the safety supervision department is at the local level. Comparatively speaking, the income of front-line employees in the safety supervision system is even lower, and the total annual income of safety supervisors in some remote areas is less than 30,000-40,000 yuan.
On the contrary, the coal mining enterprises supervised by the safety supervisors are profitable, which is in sharp contrast.
"If you quit to work as a manager in a state-owned coal mine, you will earn more than 100,000 yuan a year, and there will be hundreds of thousands when you are a deputy mine manager. It is definitely much higher than the income in the safety supervision department. " A person from the Henan safety supervision system said.
The situation of staff turnover has gradually emerged. Since 2005, the staff of a branch under the Henan Provincial Administration of Work Safety has been moving rapidly. Many college students who have just graduated have quit their jobs and gone to various coal mines in less than a year. Even a leader of Zhengzhou Coal Supervision Bureau resigned from the sea after the Daping mine disaster.
"Under the price of coal one day, the status of the Safety Supervision Bureau of the Coal Bureau is embarrassing, and there is no way to avoid the income problem." A senior local coal reporter in Henan said. Under unavoidable circumstances, the hidden danger of "derailment" of front-line safety supervisors who check the safety production conditions, safety of equipment and facilities, use of labor protection articles and personnel safety qualifications in related industries may even seek benefits in the design review and completion acceptance of safety facilities in large-scale construction projects.
Solving the subsidy problem by local governments will not only cause regional differences, but also have policy obstacles. In 2005, six ministries and commissions, including CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, jointly issued a document on regulating subsidies for Tianjin, requiring all localities to regulate the salary subsidies for civil servants. This year, Zhejiang Province held a special meeting on the distribution of post allowances, and finally decided that all the post allowances formulated by provincial, city and county governments would be cancelled, and only the national policy post allowance would be retained.
Higher-level solutions are already in the pipeline. In 2007, the Ministry of Personnel and the Safety Supervision Bureau jointly investigated the income of the safety supervision system. According to the internal statement of the safety supervision system, the corresponding subsidies will be issued soon.
"It is not enough to rely solely on professional ethics, but it is still necessary to appropriately raise the salary and maintain the income of front-line safety supervisors at a reasonable and dignified level." A person who has worked in the safety supervision system for a long time called for it. (Source: 21st century business herald reporter Chen Xiaoying, Henan Zhengzhou, Dengfeng report)
Editor: Zhang Toya
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