On August 20th, Feng Rong Zhen was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment by Fangchenggang Intermediate People’s Court for gambling. @ Guangxi News Network

Fangchenggang, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, with its back to the southwest and facing Southeast Asia, has experienced rapid economic development and rapid urban construction in recent years with its special geographical advantages along the coast. With the large-scale development of urban construction, corruption has also been quietly bred. Feng Rong Zhen, former chairman and general manager of Fangchenggang Urban Construction Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Urban Investment Company), embarked on the road of corruption in the process of urban road construction. Feng Rong Zhen’s bribery case, which was investigated and prosecuted by Fangchenggang City Procuratorate, was recently pronounced by the court in the first instance. Feng Rong Zhen was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment for accepting bribes of 4.93 million yuan and confiscated 500,000 yuan of personal property.

The road has been transformed into a "road to collect money"

Beibu Gulf Avenue (formerly Xinggang Avenue) in Fangchenggang City is the main road of the city. It comes out of the toll station in Fangchenggang City and directly enters Beibu Gulf Avenue. In order to meet the needs of urban development, in 2010, Fangchenggang Municipal Government decided to completely transform the original Xinggang Avenue to improve the overall taste of the city.

Fangchenggang City Investment Company is a wholly state-owned enterprise invested and established by the municipal government. Its business scope mainly includes: construction investment and management of urban infrastructure projects, comprehensive development of real estate, wholesale and retail of building and decoration materials, nursery stock management and greening project undertaking, etc. It is also the owner of the above-mentioned Xinggang Avenue reconstruction project. Feng Rong Zhen, the chairman and general manager of the company, holds the important decision-making power in the construction, project payment, completion acceptance, project settlement and other aspects of the project, and is of course the object of public relations of many bosses of the project construction party.

In two blocks of road reconstruction project from Yuluoling to Daoshuiao on Xinggang Avenue, a construction engineering company is the contractor, and Ma is the manager of the contractor. Feng Rong Zhen and Ma know each other because of their business ties. In order to get Rong Zhen’s attention, Ma often sends some gifts to bring them closer together.

One night in May 2011, Ma called Feng Rong Zhen and said that he would send some tea, and agreed to meet him at Taoyuan Street in the port area. Rong Zhen drove to Taoyuan Street and stopped. When Ma saw that Rong Zhen’s car arrived, he came to Rong Zhen’s car with a schoolbag and said, "Mr. Feng, this is the tea I gave you." Say that finish and left. Holding this heavy schoolbag, Feng Rong Zhen knew it well. When he opened it, he found that there was RMB cash in 100 yuan denomination, and each bundle was bound with plastic tape, making a total of 1 million yuan in cash.

Why did Ma send 1 million yuan in cash? There is not much communication between them. Afterwards, Feng Rong Zhen said: Maybe because I am the chairman and general manager of the city investment company, I will send money to me in order to get my care in the construction, project payment, completion acceptance and project settlement of the project. However, Ma has never verbally asked me for any care and help, and I have never deliberately taken care of or made things difficult for Ma or the construction party in my work. In Feng Rong Zhen’s view, even accepting money, as long as it is not deliberately taken care of at work, is not a bribe.

As a matter of fact, Feng Rong Zhen took care of the construction party in the process of organizing two blocks of projects, and received a total of 1.47 million yuan from Ma, the person in charge of the construction party, for six times.

In addition, Feng Rong Zhen also took care of the construction party in other bid projects, and received 560,000 yuan and 200,000 yuan from two other construction party leaders, Yang and Liu, five times.

The reconstruction project of Xinggang Avenue has become a "way to collect money" for Rong Zhen. After the completion of the project, there are serious quality problems, especially the section from Yuluoling to Daoshui ‘ao. Not long after the renovation, the pavement is pitted and uneven, which seriously affects the travel of citizens and the overall image of the city. The masses are quite complaining about this.

Bonded Logistics Center in Fangchenggang City

Building a "road network" is good for "fishing" money

In the process of urban construction in Fangchenggang City, "road network engineering" is a word with high frequency. The owners of major road network engineering such as "three horizontal and two vertical" road network engineering in the administrative center area and the road network engineering in the municipal bonded logistics center are all Fangchenggang City Investment Company. As the head of the company, Feng Rong Zhen will naturally receive many "sugar-coated shells".

One afternoon before the Spring Festival in 2010, Liu, the owner of the road network project, called to meet Rong Zhen. After the meeting, Liu took out two bags of things from the car and put them in the trunk of Rong Zhen’s car. He said, "Mr. Feng, this is 2 million yuan in cash, of which 800,000 yuan was returned to you by a friend of yours, and the other 1.2 million yuan is my own gift." Liu left after he finished speaking.

Rong Zhen didn’t say much and didn’t check the money, so he took it back to Fangchenggang and lent it to his brother to run his personal business. Feng Rong Zhen knows very well that the money came entirely for his own rights. Liu is the manager of the construction party of Fangchenggang’s "three horizontals and two verticals" road network project and Fangchenggang Bonded Logistics Center road network project. Liu wants to be taken care of in terms of project construction, project payment, completion acceptance and project settlement before sending this 1.2 million yuan.

After verification, in addition to the above-mentioned road network project, Feng Rong Zhen took care of the construction party in the process of organizing the construction of a bid section of North-South Avenue, the earthwork project of Fangchenggang Vocational Education Center, the Bailu Park project, and the road reconstruction project of Yuluoling-Daoshuiao section of Xinggang Avenue, and received a total of 2.5 million yuan from Liu, the person in charge of the construction party, three times.

Feng Rong Zhen not only lavished money on big projects, but also spared some small projects. Feng Rong Zhen gave convenience to the project contractor in the process of purchasing and installing weak current system engineering equipment for Fangchenggang City Investment Company’s comprehensive building project, and accepted 100,000 yuan; In the process of building a bid section of Dongwan Avenue in Fangchenggang City, he gave convenience to the project contractor Yang and accepted 100,000 yuan in cash.

500,000 yuan of stolen money was donated to my hometown.

In 2014, the procuratorate of Fangchenggang launched a massive special campaign to crack down on duty crimes in state-owned enterprises. During this campaign, nine people, including Feng Rong Zhen, chairman and general manager of Fangchenggang City Investment Company, and Zhang Hengyu, deputy general manager, were investigated for criminal responsibility.

Feng Rong Zhen was born in an ordinary family in Gongcheng County, Guilin. He was determined to get ahead from an early age, and then he was admitted to the university through hard work and worked as a postgraduate. Because of his outstanding work performance, Feng Rong Zhen had a smooth career path. At the age of 31, he was appointed as the director of Fangchenggang Fangcheng District Construction Bureau. Before he was 40, he became the chairman and general manager of Fangchenggang Urban Construction Investment Co., Ltd., a member of the party group of the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, and the deputy director and deputy director of the municipal major project construction office. Because of the struggle as a child, Feng Rong Zhen has a deep affection for his hometown, and he never forgets what he can do for his hometown. In fact, Rong Zhen also took action, but in a shameful way.

In the process of investigating Feng Rong Zhen’s case, when tracing the whereabouts of the stolen money, a sum of stolen money attracted everyone’s attention: from 2010 to the end of 2013, Feng Rong Zhen invested about 500,000 yuan in building bridges, roads and Little Square in his hometown of Gongcheng County, and the money was paid by his brother Feng.

The 4.93 million yuan illegally accepted by Feng Rong Zhen was mainly used for buying houses, investing in mining partnerships and personal consumption, in addition to investing in public welfare undertakings. Feng Rongzhen spent 1.4 million yuan to buy a property in Nanning at the end of 2009; In 2012, in my hometown of Gongcheng County, I invested 500,000 yuan to mine in partnership with my relatives.

In the investigation stage, the case-handling organ recovered 489,000 yuan from Feng Rong Zhen’s bank account and stock account, and recovered 100,000 yuan from others, and his relatives withdrew 300,000 yuan from the court during the trial stage, and a total of 889,000 yuan was withdrawn before and after Feng Rong Zhen.

On February 2nd this year, Feng Rong Zhen’s suspected bribery case was heard in the Fangchenggang Intermediate People’s Court. Facing the accusation of the procuratorate, Feng Rong Zhen confessed his criminal facts. Because he voluntarily surrendered himself and truthfully confessed his criminal behavior, he pleaded guilty with a good attitude and withdrew part of the money, the court finally gave him a lighter punishment and made the above judgment according to law.

When the gavel fell, Feng Rong Zhen’s expression was dim, and his hard work and high spirits were all gone with a verdict.

　　The feast of free credit card repayment is gradually shrinking. After the full payment of credit card repayment by WeChat, Alipay will also cancel the policy of free credit card repayment. Yesterday, Weibo, the official Alipay, issued an announcement on "Adjustment of Alipay Credit Card Repayment Service Rules". According to the announcement, starting from March 26, 2019, when individual users use the "credit card repayment" function of Alipay client, Alipay will charge 0.1% service fee for the part exceeding the free quota of 2,000 yuan.

　　Alipay will charge more than 2,000 yuan for credit card repayment.

　　Alipay said that this adjustment is due to the rising comprehensive operating cost of credit card repayment service, and struggling to support it is not conducive to sustainable development, but charging means that higher service standards are needed and users will be rewarded with more and better services.

　　After the new regulations come into effect, how to charge? If the user pays back less than 2000 yuan, it is still free. Only the excess will be charged with a service charge of 0.1%. Taking 3,000 yuan as an example, if the free quota of 2,000 yuan is deducted, the service fee that users need to pay is 1,000× 0.1% = 1 yuan.

　　Alipay’s rules for adjusting credit card repayment are not the first in the industry, and WeChat has taken the lead in ending the benefits of free credit repayment.

　　Since December 2017, WeChat has officially started to charge users for credit card repayment business, charging 0.1% (minimum 0.1 yuan) for the part that the accumulated repayment amount exceeds 5,000 yuan per natural month, and the part that does not exceed 5,000 yuan is still free. In August 2018, the amount of 5,000 yuan free of charge was officially cancelled.

　　From August 1st last year, except for Platinum and Gold members of WeChat Licaitong and users who have been transferred to 500 yuan or above for the fixed investment plan, other users will be charged a handling fee of 0.1% of the repayment amount through WeChat, and no free quota will be set.

　　The charging ratio of Alipay is the same as that of WeChat, which is 0.1%. However, Alipay has set a free quota of 2,000 yuan for each user, and only charges 0.1% for the excess. Therefore, Alipay will save 2 yuan service fees over 2,000 yuan, no matter how much it pays back.

　　The bank charges the third party a passage fee.

　　When WeChat cancelled the charges at that time, it also explained that there would be a payment channel fee behind each repayment. In order to enable users to enjoy some free product experiences, Tencent Tenpay has been subsidizing the fees.

　　Industry insiders told reporters that Alipay and WeChat started charging in order to balance costs and sustainable development. Because banks have to charge channel fees to third-party institutions. Even if they charge one thousandth of the handling fee now, they still have to subsidize about five thousandths of the handling fee.

　　These costs have always been there. Why can’t we bear them now? Some insiders believe that the reform of "centralized deposit and management of payment institutions’ reserves" ended in January this year is likely to be one of the important influencing factors.

　　The "reserve subsidy" is gone

　　The so-called "reserve fund" refers to the monetary funds actually received by the payment institution to handle the payment business entrusted by customers. This fund has expanded with the expansion of the number of customers and payment business, and has generated huge capital gains in the precipitation period. In the past, the central bank stipulated that the interest on customers’ reserves belonged to third-party payment companies. Therefore, the interest income from customers’ reserves has been a major source of income for many payment institutions. However, some small and medium-sized payment institutions can’t resist the temptation, and boldly misappropriate and occupy customers’ reserve funds, causing many risk events.

　　So the central bank changed its policy. According to the current policy, all third-party payment institutions, including Alipay and Tenpay, should cancel the RMB customer reserve account before January 14th this year. The reserve funds of payment institutions will be taken over by the central bank, and interest will not be paid temporarily. In the past, the payment institution could use this part of interest to subsidize the handling fee cost, but now it is gone.

　　Tencent’s interim report in 2018 shows that due to the requirement of centralized deposit ratio of reserve funds, the overnight cash balance that payment service providers can obtain interest income has decreased, which continues to adversely affect Tencent’s payment service income and gross profit margin to a greater extent.

　　Another adverse effect brought by the new rules of reserve fund is to reduce the bargaining power of cooperation with banks. Some insiders said that before the payment institution chose the reserve deposit bank, the bargaining power was very strong. In order to strive for deposits from payment institutions, banks will give a large margin of profit in channel fees. Now that the reserve funds are uniformly collected, payment institutions can no longer contribute deposits to banks, and banks have no reason to make profits. The channel rate is likely to rise, and the cost pressure of payment institutions will inevitably increase.

　　Free advice

　　1. There are still tricks for free repayment of WeChat Alipay.

　　If the user is used to Alipay or WeChat repayment, and the repayment amount is more than 2,000 yuan, is there any way? Alipay suggests that you can redeem more free credits through Alipay membership points, or ask family members who still have free credits to help complete the repayment.

　　According to the regulations of WeChat, there are three types of customers who can continue to enjoy full credit card repayment free of charge, namely, Tencent Licaitong Platinum, Gold members and users who have been transferred to 500 yuan or above by the "Love Investment Plan".

　　The membership level is divided according to the financial value. The financial value of platinum and gold members is 500,000 and 100,000 respectively, which can be improved by immediately increasing total assets and doing tasks. In contrast, it is more cost-effective to transfer to 500 yuan for fixed investment every month, and you can also enjoy the benefits of free credit card repayment.

　　2. UnionPay bank can pay back the credit card for free.

　　Of course, you can continue to enjoy the lunch with free credit card repayment in UnionPay and banks.

　　For credit card users, the most worry-free way is to bind the debit card accounts of peers and set up automatic repayment. Even if automatic repayment is not selected, all channels of repayment by the issuing bank are free.

　　Some cardholders don’t have debit cards from credit card issuers, and they use other banks’ online banking or mobile banking to make cross-bank repayments. Many banks don’t charge fees. For example, the two major apps of China Merchants Bank, including China Merchants Bank APP and Pocket Life APP, also support free credit card repayment, and also support inter-bank repayment.

　　It is understood that credit card repayment and transfer through China Unionpay Quick Pass, the official APP of China UnionPay, are also free. In addition, 66 banks, including Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Postal Savings, China Everbright, CITIC, Pudong Development Bank, Minsheng, Huaxia, Ping An, Guangfa, Xingye, Bank of Beijing and Bank of Shanghai, have launched credit card bill inquiry services in China Unionpay Quick Pass. "China Unionpay Quick Pass" also has many functions, such as credit card benefit inquiry, card application service, mobile phone flash payment opening and so on, where users can enjoy convenient, fast, labor-saving and worry-free credit card service.

　　3. Du Xiaoman and Jingdong Finance can repay for free.

　　At present, among the three platforms of BAT, only Xiaoman Finance still provides credit card free repayment service. Users can download Xiaoman Financial APP, and you can see the credit card repayment function on the homepage. You can also download Xiaoman Financial’s credit service APP "Money Spend", and you can easily perform credit card repayment operation in the "Discovery" column. At present, Du Xiaoman Finance supports the credit card repayment of 28 banks, covering prime bank, and it usually takes 30 minutes to get the account.

　　Jingdong financial APP can also repay credit cards for free. At present, JD Finance supports users to repay credit cards from 29 banks including Industry, Agriculture, China, Construction, Communications, China Merchants Bank and CITIC, which usually arrive within 30 minutes.

　　Text/reporter Cheng Wei

　　Photo courtesy/vision china