By Xu Wei and Chen Hong (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-06-22 07:57
Shenzhen, Guangdong - The hearing of the long-disputed "Sea Palace" case filed by its owner against a local government department was held at the Longgang district court on Tuesday.

The court session lasted for three hours before being adjourned but the judge's decision is yet to be made.

The Shenzhen Elite Offshore Entertainment Company, owner of the private recreation facility, which floats on the sea, first appealed to the court on March 28 and demanded 1 million yuan ($150,000) in compensation over the allegedly illegal revoking of its aquatic farming and fishing licenses by the Longgang district agricultural, fishery and oceanic bureau.

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The company filed a second appeal on April 13 after the department sent about 100 workers to demolish the floating villa.

The court accepted the two files on April 20 and decided to hold the hearings on May 24. But one day before the notice of the court session was delivered, the bureau was dissolved according to the government's reform plan.

Thus the court session was delayed and the Longgang economic promotion bureau, which took over the functions of the agricultural, fishery and oceanic bureau, became the defendant in the case.

Wang Tengfeng, the attorney for the plaintiff, said after the court session that the defendant's case was unconvincing.

Wang denied speculation that the accuser is pursuing financial interests in the legal suit.

"What we are appealing for is getting back the licenses that were taken from us," Wang told China Daily on Tuesday. "In a broader sense, we want to seek credit for our efforts in the exploration of offshore space."

Wang described the decisions made by the Longgang district oceanic bureau to retract the company's farm-fishing and leisure-fishing licenses as "hasty and unreasonable".

Meanwhile he insisted that construction work on floating bases had legal foundations, citing a city legal document on sea structures and a Guangdong government regulation on fish shelters.

However, according to a report by jcrb.com, the website of the Procuratorate Daily, the attorney for the defendant insisted that the company never obtained the legal right to use the sea area and therefore its possession of the sea area is illegal.

The bureau described its decision to retract the company's sea-farming licenses as self-correction.

The floating villa, located in Dongshan Bay at Nan'ao in eastern Shenzhen, started as cabins built on fishing rafts. In mid-2004, it was expanded to cover a sea area of more than 3,000 square meters.

The sea villa took shape in 2005, when a local real estate company started massive construction work in a bid to build a floating compound later known as "Palace On the Sea" because of its luxury.

The sea villa came under fire after the media revealed the luxury private club had never gained a permit to use the sea area.

In 2005, a local offshore surveillance team deemed the villa illegal and transferred the case to Shenzhen oceanic bureau. But the villa continued operating despite these disputes.

The Guangdong provincial oceanic bureau launched investigations into the case and deemed it an illegal construction on the sea in January 2010.

The Longgang district court ordered the company to dismantle the villa in May. The company removed the horse track and swimming pool from the villa, but the main body of the villa was preserved.

The company gained licenses for sea farming and leisure fishing from the Longgang district agricultural, fishery and oceanic bureau in December last year. But the bureau revoked its licenses shortly after the place reopened in February.

By Lydia Chen  |   2011-6-22  
A FORMER senior executive with state-owned China Mobile has been sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for taking bribes from Siemens AG, Caixin magazine reported yesterday.

The Higher People's Court of Henan Province upheld an earlier verdict on Shi Wanzhong, former general manager of China Mobile's human resources department, for taking a total of US$5.06 million in bribes together with Tian Qu, a middleman, when Shi was head of China Mobile's Anhui branch from 2002 to 2009.

Shi also accepted 2 million yuan (US$309,598) from a privately-owned Chinese firm during his tenure in the eastern province, the court said.

Tian was jailed for 15 years.

Their trial had not been open to the public as the court deemed it involved state secrets.

More than three years ago, the German technology giant was at the center of a global bribery scandal and some reports claimed Siemens had conducted half of its business in China by offering bribes.

To expand market share in China, Siemens hired Tian, who was a close friend of Shi, as its sales representative to negotiate deals with Shi, then chairman and general manager of China Mobile's Anhui branch and in charge of equipment purchasing for the country's largest telecommunication carrier.

Tian was paid total commission of US$5.06 million after nailing several deals with China Mobile for Siemens. The court said that part of the money was later given to Shi.

The total value of deals signed by Shi between China Mobile and Siemens is not known.

Siemens declined to comment on the court case yesterday.

German broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported in 2007 that 50 percent of Siemens' business in China had involved offering bribes.

But the allegation was denied by Siemens' China spokesman, who said that the accusation was "totally unacceptable and groundless."

The spokesman told Shanghai Securities News at the time that the company had hired a United States law firm to conduct an internal investigation focusing on its contracts with middleman representatives, people hired by Siemens to sell products in a certain area and who were paid commission when deals are signed.

It had become a common practice for such middlemen to offer bribes to buyers, Caixin said.

According to investigation reports disclosed by the US Department of Justice, three subordinate firms under Siemens China, including Siemens Medical Solutions Group, Siemens PTD, Siemens Transportation System, were involved in the bribery scandal.

The three companies said to have offered a total of US$61.4 million in bribes to Chinese officials and anyone who had the final say on a deal to win projects worth a total value of 2.1 billion yuan.

The projects covered areas such as infrastructure construction and medical care.

The Chinese Communist Party's disciplinary body has launched an anti-corruption campaign targeting managers and executives of the country's three major telecom operators - China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom.

The investigation is due to end this month and during it, all middle-level and above administrative staff had to hand in their passports.

Bribery scandals involving Siemens were revealed in 2006 and 2007, with some of the company's employees bribing foreign officials to gain contracts and creating slush funds for the purpose.

The CEO of the company, Klaus Kleinfeld, and the chairman of the supervisory board, Heinrich von Pierer, resigned though they were not directly implicated.

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-06-22 09:00
UNITED NATIONS - Prosecuting and detaining Somali pirates as well as eliminating impunity constitutes an important link of combating Somali pirates, Wang Min, deputy permanent representative of the Chinese mission to the UN said here on Tuesday.

Wang made the remarks as he addressed a Security Council meeting on piracy off the Coast of Somalia. China supported the further elaboration by the international community on the issue of combating Somali pirates, he said.

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China also appreciated the willingness of Tanzania to establish Somali extraterrestrial specialized court. In the face of many challenges in setting up anti-piracy court within and beyond Somalia, China called on the international community to step up efforts, gradually overcome difficulties, and on the basis of respect for the willingness of Somalia to reach a most viable and effective solution to this problem, he noted.

"Strengthening judicial capacity building in Somalia and other regional countries is an indispensable element in establishing anti-piracy court within and beyond Somalia," Wang said, calling for continued assistance to Somalia and other countries in the region provided by the international community.

Wang also pointed out that the root causes of Somali piracy lie on the land, therefore response to the problem should tackle both symptoms and root causes in order to keep peace and stability of the country as well as promote its economic and social development.

SHANGHAI - A male staff member of a kindergarten in Minhang district has been detained on suspicion of sexually violating five girls, Minhang police said on Tuesday.

Police said they received reports on June 16 from two parents that their daughters had been violated at the Shanghai Minhang district's Tongxing kindergarten.

Police investigated the case immediately and decided that a 35-year-old male staff member, surnamed Han, was a suspect. They detained Han later that day.

Police have been visiting students and parents since June 16 to further investigate the case.

Han might have sexually violated the girls when they took an afternoon sleep, according to investigators' initial findings.

The kindergarten is a privately run preschool. Its monthly charge is about 400 yuan ($62). Currently more than 200 students attend the school.

Parents said the kindergarten has been running for more than a year. However, approval for planning and constructing the kindergarten by Minhang education bureau was dated Dec 28, 2010, according to a file published on the Minhang district government's website.

The registered fund of the kindergarten is 400,000 yuan and the entire investment is 800,000 yuan. The purpose of the kindergarten is to educate migrant workers' children aged from three to six, according to the file.

Han, the suspect, is a cousin of one of the kindergarten's supervisors, Shanghai Television reported.

A girl told her parents that a man at the kindergarten had been constantly "touching" her for more than a year, and the parents later found similar cases at the kindergarten and called the police, said a parent who spoke on condition of anonymity, reported xinmin.net, a Shanghai news website.

The kindergarten was still operating normally on Tuesday, according to xinmin.net.

A clerk with Minhang education bureau, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told China Daily on Tuesday afternoon that the bureau was aware of the case, and discussions about the case were to be held on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, but he declined to make any comment before police have concluded their investigation.

The police are still looking into the case, according to the district police bureau.

This case draws attention to the quality of privately run kindergartens, which have been encouraged to open in Shanghai to satisfy demand for preschool education for the increasing number of migrants workers' children.

Earlier reports said the number of migrant workers' children in Shanghai who are of preschool age would increase to 200,000 by 2012 from the current 80,000.

To increase resources for preschool education and seek ways to accommodate these migrant children, the Shanghai education commission announced last year that it plans to build more than 400 kindergartens within five years.

These kindergartens will be built mainly in migrant population areas, such as Baoshan district, Minhang district and Pudong New Area.

"The government should increase supervision for these private kindergartens," said Gao Shuang, a teacher at a public kindergarten in the city.

"Meanwhile, a comprehensive training and assessment system should be set up for the kindergartens' staff members to ensure the healthy growth of children."

A local resident, surnamed Xie, whose son will enter kindergarten next year, said: "While setting up more kindergartens in the city, under no circumstances should authorities neglect the quality of instruction at these preschools, especially privately run ones.

"Unlike public kindergartens, teachers, facilities and education standards at private kindergartens are still cause for concern," Xie said.