Absolute power in officialdom

Chapter 243 The Village Official with Five Poisons

After a brief silence, Liu Dayong's cousin spoke first: "My cousin was framed, and I guess it was Wang Youcai who did it, because he was the real village secretary and had the motive."

Wang Youcai was very arrogant in the village. He not only knew how to show off and put on a show, but he also had connections in high places.

He has a brother-in-law who is said to be the deputy director of the municipal propaganda department.

Why do reporters from the city and county come to Qingshui Village every few days?

They praised Wang Youcai to the skies, calling him a "leading figure in wealth creation in the new era" and a "pragmatic entrepreneur rooted in the countryside," with each title higher than the last.

Could his brother-in-law have played a part in this?

The town, seeing that the city and county were promoting him like this, felt proud and wanted to make him a role model, piling all sorts of honors and awards on him.

The town needs his prestigious reputation to showcase its achievements, and he needs the town's support to make it easier for him to reap benefits!

And the result? All show and no substance, rotten inside!

Liu Dayong's cousin is a businessman who is knowledgeable and eloquent.

Once someone started it, the other villagers, less hesitant, also chimed in, criticizing Wang Youcai.

An older man said, "Secretary Wu, I grow crops in greenhouses, and I have something to say!"

Wang Youcai's system of unified seedling supply, unified agricultural materials, and unified sales sounds good, but it's all just a shackle around our necks!

The seedlings must be bought from his designated suppliers, which are 20-30% more expensive than those elsewhere.

He had to get fertilizer and pesticides from his sister-in-law's shop. Not only were they expensive, but the quality was sometimes problematic, and the pests wouldn't be killed, resulting in poor crop growth.

You want to buy cheap, good quality products from outside? No way!

The cooperative has rules: violators will be fined, and in serious cases, they will refuse to accept your vegetables!

A woman chimed in, "The sales are even more outrageous. The price of vegetables isn't up to us vegetable growers, nor is it up to the market. It's up to Wang Youcai and his gang."

He said the market was bad and everyone should share the risk since the price was too low.

But what if the price is too high? Where did the profits go? They say it's a development fund retained by the cooperative, but where is that fund being used? We haven't seen it!

The village committee building became more and more impressive, Wang Youcai's house grew taller and taller, and his car kept getting better and better!

We work hard all year, but after deducting his overpriced seedlings and fertilizers, and then his various other cuts, how much money are we left with? It's not even as good as going out to do odd jobs!

A middle-aged man wearing glasses said, "The village's accounts are a complete mess!"

During the years that Wang Youcai served as the village secretary, the village rented out its mountains and waters, implemented various projects and subsidies, and made village affairs public. However, these were all for show; not only were the details not visible, but the data was also not necessarily accurate.

Two years ago, the village said it would build an irrigation canal. Under the guise of "one matter, one discussion," each household contributed money. However, the canal was built haphazardly, and it started leaking in many places in less than a year.

Later I heard that the project had been contracted to a relative of his, and although he spent a lot of money, the project turned out to be a complete shoddy mess.

One man said, "Wang Youcai is the one who calls the shots in the village. The other village officials are either his relatives or people he trusts."

When there are any good things in the village, such as quotas for low-income households or subsidies for dilapidated house renovation, those with close connections always get priority.

Who cares about those who are truly in dire straits, like Liu Dayong? Instead, they're dragged into taking the blame and shouldering the debts!

A young man in his thirties said, "Let me talk about the subsidy."

Back then, the government encouraged the construction of greenhouses, and there was a subsidy of several thousand yuan per mu (unit of land area).

Wang Youcai announced over the village loudspeaker at a meeting that this was a great thing, as the cooperative's unified planning, application, and construction would maximize the effectiveness of the subsidy funds and save farmers the trouble of running around themselves.

We all believed it. But later we found out it was all a trap.

My family actually built a greenhouse on 2.8 mu of land, but the cooperative reported the figure to the town and county as 4 mu.

Where did the subsidies for the extra two acres go?

Furthermore, even though several households were renovating old sheds and the subsidy standards were low according to policy, he reported them all as newly built high-standard sheds, thus increasing the subsidy amount.

All this money went into the cooperative's account, but how many of us ordinary members can see the cooperative's accounts? And how can anyone explain them clearly?

Another villager chimed in: "Not only did he misreport the area, he also inflated the prices of materials, colluding with others to take kickbacks."

The steel pipes, bamboo poles, plastic film, and spring clips used to build the greenhouses must be purchased uniformly by the cooperative, which claims to guarantee quality and offer preferential prices.

Bullshit! The same thing is much cheaper at other stores in town!

Later, someone knowledgeable calculated that he had overcharged the price by at least 30% to 40% just for the materials!

Isn't this extra money just a way to pocket the government subsidies and our farmers' hard-earned money, putting it into his own and his relatives' and friends' pockets?

I heard that the owner of the town's designated materials supplier is his brother-in-law's brother-in-law!

"And there's something even more outrageous! Some families didn't have enough manpower or capital, so they didn't build greenhouses in the first place."

Wang Youcai also had a way. He found people to apply for subsidies in these people's names. The greenhouses were built on blueprints and forms, but in reality, the land might still be wasteland or planted with other things.

When the subsidy money comes in, the nominal head of household might only get a few hundred yuan as a "hardship fee" or "confidentiality fee," while the lion's share is divided among a few of them.

What's this called? This is called getting something for nothing; it's swindling the country's money!

"Our village looks like it's thriving with all the greenhouses, but the village is heavily in debt. The cooperative is Wang Youcai's 'money bag'."

During the years that Wang Youcai served as the village secretary, he borrowed a lot of money from credit unions and rural commercial banks in the name of the village collective.

There are many different names for it; some say it's about building beautiful villages, such as repairing roads, installing streetlights, and building squares.

Some say it's about developing the collective economy and investing in new projects;

Others say it's for emergency cash flow or to advance funds...

Like a snowball, it gets bigger and bigger.

Apart from greenhouse vegetables, which is barely visible, we haven't seen any other investment projects.

The village is already struggling to make ends meet with the interest payments each year, let alone repaying the principal!

"Wang Youcai's problem wasn't just money; his character was rotten to the core. He indulged in all sorts of vices: eating, drinking, gambling, and whoring."

The village's entertainment expenses, amounting to an unknown sum each year, all go to those restaurants in town. And that's just what's publicly known.

Secretly, he frequented the karaoke bars and bathhouses in the county town quite often!

Because he had some money, he acted arrogantly in the village and flaunted his wealth outside.

Some people say he even has a mistress in the county town!

"He also had his eye on some of the women in the village."

"Taking advantage of his position as Party Secretary, he has some power and can offer small favors or exploit people's weaknesses..."

"Exactly, don't be fooled by his respectable appearance in the village. He can give a very eloquent speech at meetings."

Behind the scenes, they do all sorts of shady things!

He had eyes like hooks for all the pretty women in the village, and he'd slept with quite a few women; everyone knew that.