Source: Securities Times Network
Original Title: Details of the Case of Yao Qian, Former Director of the Science and Technology Supervision Department of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, Who Accepted Ethereum Worth Tens of Millions in a Single Instance
On the evening of January 14, Beijing time, the fourth episode of the television special "Not a Step Idle, Not Half a Step Back" titled "Empowering Anti-Corruption with Technology" was broadcast.
It analyzed the case of Yao Qian, the former Director of the Science and Technology Supervision Department and former Director of the Information Center of the China Securities Regulatory Commission.
Public information shows that in April 2024, Yao Qian was investigated for suspected serious violations of discipline and law. In November 2024, Yao Qian was expelled from the Party and public office. The notice stated that after investigation, Yao Qian had betrayed his original mission, lacked political integrity, sought vanity, portrayed himself as a financial technology expert, spared no effort to support specific technology service providers for personal gain, and willingly became the "key cultivation target" of those seeking to influence him. He abused regulatory powers such as policy suggestion, formulation, and execution, abandoned his duties in technology supervision, provided improper benefits to others in areas like business expansion for information technology system service institutions and software/hardware procurement, and engaged in power-for-money transactions using virtual currency, among other means. He engaged in superstitious activities; ignored the Central Eight-Point Regulations, illegally accepted valuable items such as Moutai liquor and banquets; violated organizational principles by securing benefits for others in employee recruitment; violated integrity discipline by having supervised entities pay for personal expenses such as car rentals, illegally borrowing large sums of money from supervised entities, and illegally investing in enterprises. He illegally accepted property, with the amount being particularly huge.
Below is a partial transcript from the fourth episode "Empowering Anti-Corruption with Technology" of "Not a Step Idle, Not Half a Step Back":
In addition to spatial separation between domestic and overseas, physical separation between online and offline has also become a means for corrupt individuals to attempt to cover up their actions. Gold, cash, and valuable items are common carriers of power-for-money transactions in traditional corruption cases. However, with the advent of the digital age and the continuous development of virtual currency based on blockchain technology, corruption has taken on a new form that must be vigilant about.
These are key pieces of evidence seized in a case involving disciplinary and legal violations by a leading cadre. They look like phones, U disks, or remote controls.
In fact, they are hardware wallets of different styles, used for storing and managing virtual currency. These three seemingly insignificant small "wallets" contain virtual currency with a total assessed value equivalent to tens of millions of RMB. Those who accept bribes in this way once harbored侥幸心理, believing it was sufficiently隐蔽.
Yao Qian, former Director of the Science and Technology Supervision Department of the China Securities Regulatory Commission: To be honest, I knew this was a sneaky act, how could you do it? It's just that you previously thought it seemed hard to have evidence.
Yao Qian, former Director of the Science and Technology Supervision Department and former Director of the Information Center of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, previously served as the Director of the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People's Bank of China. He was placed under investigation in April 2024. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Commission of Supervision's disciplinary inspection and supervision team stationed at the China Securities Regulatory Commission, jointly with the Supervision Commission of Shanwei City, Guangdong Province, formed a special task force to handle this case. From the beginning, the task force conducted an in-depth analysis based on Yao Qian's personal characteristics.
Zou Rong, staff member of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Commission of Supervision's disciplinary inspection and supervision team stationed at the China Securities Regulatory Commission: Supervision of this person requires profiling. He has a relatively long work experience in digital currency. Could there be corruption issues involving power-for-money transactions using virtual currency behind this? In the practice of anti-corruption in the capital market, new and hidden forms of corruption are quite prominent.
As the review and investigation deepened, the task force's initial predictions were confirmed. Several of Yao Qian's large power-for-money transactions used new and hidden corrupt methods, including accepting virtual currency. Virtual currency is just a string of numbers in the network, not only separated from the holder's identity but also completely isolated from the commercial banking and payment institution systems. It can be freely traded on the blockchain and cross-border transferred without geographical restrictions, making it extremely隐蔽 and difficult to supervise. However, the task force was well-prepared from the start. By studying a large amount of professional knowledge and deeply understanding the operating mechanism of virtual currency, they identified the key points of the review and investigation.
Zou Rong: The holder mainly relies on a private key to control the virtual currency on the blockchain address. This private key consists of a string of dozens of characters, which is not easy to remember. Usually, a hardware wallet is used for safekeeping.
Cai Kunting, staff member of the Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Shanwei City, Guangdong Province: The search must grasp two items: first, whether there is a hardware wallet; second, whether there are any slips of paper with seemingly random mnemonic phrases. This is crucial in the search.
Sure enough, the task force found a hardware wallet in a drawer in Yao Qian's office. At the same time, the task force strictly followed rules, regulations, and the law, fully utilizing big data and information technology to conduct a comprehensive排查 of Yao Qian's relevant situation, and also discovered related traces. From the legally queried account information, although Yao Qian's own accounts showed no obvious abnormalities, big data cross-checking revealed that several bank accounts opened under others' identities were actually Yao Qian's "shell accounts," controlled by him. By tracing the source of large fund flows in and out of these "shell accounts," a significant discovery was made regarding one particular 10 million RMB fund.
Zou Rong: During the preliminary verification process, we also discovered an abnormal transfer of 10 million RMB into Yao Qian's account. After about four layers of tracing, we finally confirmed that it should have come from a fund account of a virtual currency trader.
The investigation found that shortly after this 10 million RMB entered Yao Qian's "shell account," it was used to pay for part of a villa in Beijing. This villa, with a total price of over 20 million RMB, was registered under the name of a relative of Yao Qian but was actually owned by Yao Qian. All the purchase funds came from Yao Qian's "shell accounts." In addition to this 10 million RMB, two other large deposits, totaling 12 million RMB, were also used to pay for the villa. Tracing the source of this 12 million RMB revealed that its origin was similarly异常复杂.
Shi Changping, staff member of the Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Shanwei City, Guangdong Province: He thought that after setting up layers, it might be more isolated. But on the other hand, there would be more people and evidence to prove the existence of this issue, making it more充分.
The task force penetrated through layers of "smoke screens," conducted in-depth investigation and evidence collection, and锁定 the source of this 12 million RMB. The money all came from an information service company controlled by businessman Wang Mou. It was further discovered that Yao Qian used his power to provide assistance for this company's technology services in the securities and futures industry, forming a complete evidence chain for this 12 million RMB利益输送.
Wang Mou also revealed that in this power-for-money transaction, there was a key middleman named Jiang Guoqing, who was Yao Qian's subordinate and had a very close relationship with him. The task force immediately placed Jiang Guoqing under留置措施. The investigation found that he had participated in almost every large power-for-money transaction of Yao Qian, especially when Yao Qian accepted virtual currency bribes, Jiang Guoqing was involved.
Jiang Guoqing, person involved in the case: Originally, they wanted to hand it over through me, but later I thought about it and was still afraid of causing trouble. So I set up a transfer address, then they transferred the coins to the transfer address, and from the transfer address to Yao Qian's personal wallet. I knew this was利益输送, I was afraid, and I also knew it was wrong.
Jiang Guoqing followed Yao Qian and was transferred to the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People's Bank of China and later to the Science and Technology Department of the CSRC. He was not only a trusted confidant of Yao Qian but also a pawn on Yao Qian's path of corruption. Many of the businessmen involved in power-for-money transactions with Yao Qian were introduced by Jiang Guoqing or had their requests conveyed through him, and Jiang Guoqing also took a cut in the middle.
In 2018, a coin circle老板 Zhang Mou, through Jiang Guoqing, asked Yao Qian for help in providing assistance for his company's token issuance financing project. Yao Qian accepted the request and contacted a virtual currency exchange, helping his company successfully issue tokens and raise 20,000 Ethereum. Subsequently, Zhang Mou gave Yao Qian 2,000 Ethereum as thanks. At their peak, these Ethereum were assessed to have a market value exceeding 60 million RMB. The reason Yao Qian's打招呼 worked was naturally related to his official influence.
Jiang Guoqing: Yao Qian's influence in the industry is very significant because of his position.
To further solidify the evidence chain, the task force, based on the characteristics of virtual currency, attempted to restore the entire流转链条 of Yao Qian accepting virtual currency on the blockchain.
Zou Rong: Virtual currency has隐蔽性, but it's a double-edged sword; it has two sides because it also has the characteristic of being publicly queryable across the entire network. That is, anyone can query the transfer records of any blockchain address's virtual currency at any time. This is determined by the decentralized nature of the blockchain, so it also has公开性.
The task force used blockchain technology to query both the流转链条 of the 2,000 Ethereum in 2018 from Zhang Mou's Ethereum wallet address最终 to Yao Qian's Ethereum wallet address, and the complete record of Yao Qian transferring out 370 of these Ethereum in 2021 to exchange for 10 million RMB in funds. The task force carried out electronic evidence collection in accordance with rules, regulations, and the law, achieving mutual verification and forming a closed loop for all evidence. Faced with such a solid evidence chain, Yao Qian had to admit his disciplinary and legal violations.
In November 2024, Yao Qian was expelled from the Party and public office and transferred to the procuratorial organs for依法审查起诉. The successful handling of this case accumulated experience for disciplinary inspection and supervision organs in investigating virtual currency bribery and acceptance issues. Virtual currency may seem intangible and shadowless, but once it is intended to be used in the real world, it can no longer maintain its virtual state and will必定 "develop" somewhere. The villa purchased by Yao Qian was the "developer" that exposed him. The layers of迷阵 painstakingly set up were ultimately unable to escape being penetrated. When Yao Qian was placed under留置, the villa's renovation was not yet completed, but he was already无缘 to live in it.
Zou Rong: Virtual currency, if not cashed out, is useless; it's just a string of numbers. When virtual assets turn into real assets, they are很容易 exposed.
Using virtual currency to conceal corrupt gains is just one method of new and hidden corruption. Under the high-pressure态势 of anti-corruption, no matter how花样翻新 the corrupt methods are or how隐形变异 the methods are, as long as the essential characteristic of corruption—power-for-money transactions—is tightly grasped, strictly following rules, regulations, and the law, fully utilizing big data and other information technologies, increasing the intensity of identification and investigation, and continuously enriching effective prevention and control methods, any form of corruption will have nowhere to hide.
Compiled from CCTV News, Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and National Commission of Supervision Website
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