Guangdong Xinfeng Lianxi Care Center Abuse Death Case (2017)

Introduction

Xinfeng County Lianxi Nursery Center is a private non-enterprise care institution in Xinfeng County, Shaoguan City, Guangdong Province, registered and established in 2010 (registration certificate number: Yue Shao Xin Min Zheng Zi No. 07021), the original site is located in the former site of the county detention center, legal representative Luo Lifang. The center mainly undertakes the care business of special groups such as homeless beggars, and was revoked in March 2017 due to illegal operations.

During the operation period, the center was repeatedly required to rectify but was not implemented due to problems such as not obtaining social welfare institution qualifications, substandard facilities, and chaotic management. In 2017, the media exposed that there were abnormal deaths of foster care personnel, and the investigation showed that 20 people died within 49 days, and there were problems such as abuse of foster care and misappropriation of relief funds. After investigation, Li Cuiqiong, former director of the Xinfeng County Civil Affairs Bureau, and others illegally approved and participated in the operation, suspected of abusing their power. In December 2018, the Shaoguan Municipal Court sentenced 20 people involved in the case in the first instance, and Li Cuiqiong and Pan Zhongai were sentenced to death and life imprisonment respectively; The Guangdong Provincial Discipline Inspection and Supervision Agency held 107 public officials accountable for dereliction of duty, including the then director of the Provincial Department of Civil Affairs and the secretary of the Xinfeng County Party Committee. After the incident, 733 people in care were placed and the institution was banned.

Government investigations

On March 20, 2017, the Beijing News reported on the “Investigation into the Death of Lei Wenfeng, an Autistic Teenager at Lianxi Nursery Center in Xinfeng County”, and after the incident was reported, the Shaoguan Municipal Government reported on its official website that the local government had set up a task force to investigate, and the four main responsible persons of the nursery center had also taken compulsory measures.

On March 20, 2017, the investigation team held a press conference to announce the investigation.

Lianxi Nursery Center is not fully qualified and government supervision is not in place

Ma Zhiming, county magistrate of Xinfeng County, Shaoguan City, Guangdong Province, said that according to preliminary understanding, the procedures of Lianxi Nursery Center are not perfect and the licenses are incomplete. Many conditions are not met, and the living conditions are not fully in accordance with the relevant requirements, which eventually leads to death. The specific cause and degree of harm are still under further investigation.

Ma Zhiming admitted that the implementation responsibility of Lianxi Nursery Center is not in place, and the regulatory responsibilities of relevant government departments are not in place. “Our supervision has an unshirkable responsibility, and although the regulatory authorities have issued rectification notices to this unit many times, they have not implemented the rectification as required.”

Among them, the Lianxi Nursing Center has gaps in fire protection and diet, and the fire and food and drug departments have also asked them to rectify it, but it was not implemented in the end.

Lianxi Nursing Center has a high mortality rate, and no concentrated outbreaks of disease have been found

Regarding the situation of 20 deaths in 49 days, Ma Zhiming responded: The number of deaths and mortality rates in Lianxi Nursing Center is relatively high, and the specific situation is still being verified.

After the establishment of the investigation team, 733 caregivers were comprehensively examined, and special funds were allocated for nutritional intervention, supplementing their nutrition and taking various measures to treat them. Ma Zhiming emphasized that no concentrated outbreak of disease was found.

There are government officials involved in the involvement and further investigation will be conducted

Ma Zhiming said that preliminary investigation showed that some department staff were suspected of violating discipline and regulations and participating in the affairs of the care center. He said that those who violate discipline and law will be seriously investigated and punished.

After the incident, the local government has resettled 733 people in the care center, and also officially banned the care center on March 2.

Preliminary investigation and punishment

After the Guangdong Provincial and Municipal Joint Investigation Team entered Xinfeng on March 21, 2017, it quickly launched a comprehensive and in-depth investigation into the issues related to the Lianxi Nursing Center. According to the progress of the investigation, Shaoguan City has seriously investigated and dealt with relevant personnel in accordance with laws and regulations.

The investigation found that individual party and government leaders and heads of relevant departments in Shaoguan City and Xinfeng County had problems of ineffective supervision and dereliction of duty in the Lianxi Nursing Center. Shaoguan City will seriously hold relevant personnel accountable in accordance with relevant regulations, and decided: remove Chen Jinghui from the position of secretary of the Xinfeng County Party Committee, remove Long Yongwen (former secretary of the party group and director of the Shaoguan Civil Affairs Bureau) from the position of secretary of the party group and director of the Shaoguan Water Affairs Bureau, remove Lai Qixin from the position of member of the party group and deputy director of the Shaoguan Civil Affairs Bureau, and remove Liu Xiangtie from the position of secretary of the party group and director of the Xinfeng County Civil Affairs Bureau.

The Shaoguan City Procuratorate decided: Li Cuiqiong, deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Xinfeng County People’s Congress and former director of the County Civil Affairs Bureau, Pan Zhongai (retired), former deputy director of the County Civil Affairs Bureau, Qiu Jinhua, deputy chief clerk of the County Civil Affairs Bureau and former deputy director, and Ying Yidan, director of the Social Organization Management Unit of the County Civil Affairs Bureau, were investigated on suspicion of abuse of power. Yi Biheng, director of the Xinfeng County Bureau of Culture, Radio and Television, former director of the County Civil Affairs Bureau, Chen Xinhua, deputy director of the County Agricultural Machinery Administration and former deputy director of the County Civil Affairs Bureau, Zhu Xiongxin, deputy director of the County Civil Affairs Bureau, Li Yunhua, head of the Social Welfare and Social Affairs Unit of the County Civil Affairs Bureau, and Lai Zhanfeng, vice chairman of the Wengyuan County CPPCC in Shaoguan City and former deputy county magistrate of Xinfeng County, were investigated on suspicion of dereliction of duty. The above 9 people have been taken criminal compulsory measures in accordance with the law, of which 3 people, including Li Cuiqiong, Yi Biheng, and Pan Zhongai, have been criminally detained.

The investigation found that the investors, legal representatives and some management personnel of Lianxi Nursery Center operated in violation of regulations, misappropriated relief subsidy funds, and some staff abused foster care personnel. Following the criminal detention of Liu Xiuyu, the investor of the nursing center, and the legal representative Luo Lifang, on March 8, and the criminal detention of the staff of the nursing center Luo Bizeng and Li Zhicheng on March 9, the staff of the nursery center and related suspects Chen Cuifen, Chen Yanna, Pan Yingjun, Li Pinxin, Zeng Zhiren, Xu Wujia and other 6 people were criminally detained. The above-mentioned personnel will be strictly investigated for criminal responsibility in accordance with the law after a thorough investigation of the case.

In order to draw inferences from one case to another and strictly standardize management, the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government have deployed civil affairs departments to conduct a comprehensive inventory of social assistance and care institutions in the province. The Provincial Department of Civil Affairs formed a working group to conduct inspections in various places, comprehensively grasped the facility conditions and safety management of the entrusted institutions, thoroughly investigated and rectified hidden dangers, and accelerated the formulation and improvement of policies to promote the healthy development of the province’s rescue institutions.

Pronounce judgments and accountability

On December 24, 2018, the Intermediate People’s Court of Shaoguan City, Guangdong Province, and the People’s Courts of Lechang City and Renhua County respectively rendered first-instance judgments, pursuing criminal responsibility for the 20 defendants involved in the case of abuse of foster personnel at the Lianxi Nursing Center in Xinfeng County. The discipline inspection and supervision organs of Guangdong Province also seriously held 107 public officials accountable for dereliction of duty and responsibility in the incident.

After trial, the court found that defendants Li Cuiqiong (former director of the Xinfeng County Civil Affairs Bureau), Pan Zhong’ai (former chief clerk of the Xinfeng County Civil Affairs Bureau) and others used their power to establish a foster care center in violation of regulations in order to seek illegal benefits. Seven defendants, including Lai Zhanfeng, who was once the deputy county magistrate in charge of civil affairs in Xinfeng County, did not perform their regulatory duties in accordance with the law, resulting in the nursing center actually detaching from supervision and operating illegally for a long time.

The trial court held that the nature of the case was bad and the consequences were serious. Comprehensively considering the facts of each defendant’s crime, the circumstances of the crime, and the expression of remorse, Li Cuiqiong and Pan Zhongai were punished in accordance with the law for the crimes of intentional injury, abuse of caregivers, and abuse of power, and sentenced to death with a two-year suspension and life imprisonment respectively, and all illegal gains were recovered; Lai Zhanfeng was sentenced to eight years in prison for dereliction of duty and bribery in accordance with the law; The remaining defendants were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment respectively in accordance with the law.

Some people’s congress deputies, CPPCC members, journalists, local people and the defendant’s family members observed the public trial of each case.

At the same time, a reporter learned from the Guangdong Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision that according to relevant regulations, Guangdong Province has seriously held 107 public officials in Xinfeng County, Shaoguan City, and the Provincial Department of Civil Affairs and other units accountable for dereliction of duty in the incident. Among them, Liu Hong, deputy secretary general of the provincial government (then director of the Provincial Department of Civil Affairs), was placed on party probation for two years, dismissed from government affairs, and demoted to a non-leadership position at the deputy department level; Xinfeng County Party Secretary Chen Jinghui (dismissed) was expelled from the party and expelled from public office. Other relevant responsible persons were also given party discipline and government sanctions.

At the same time, with the approval of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervision Commission filed a case for review and investigation into Zheng Zhentao, former head of the discipline inspection team of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in the Audit Office and former member of the party group of the National Audit Office, and Deng Haiguang, member of the party group and vice chairman of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

After investigation, Comrade Zheng Zhentao, as the then mayor and secretary of the municipal party committee of Shaoguan City, Guangdong Province, did not implement the main responsibility in place, and had important leadership responsibility for the death of the recipient of the Lianxi Nursing Center in Xinfeng County, Shaoguan City, Guangdong Province; Comrade Deng Haiguang, as the vice governor in charge of civil affairs of the Guangdong Provincial Government at the time, did not pay enough attention to social assistance work and was responsible for the occurrence of the above incidents. Comrades Zheng Zhentao and Deng Haiguang have made major mistakes in promoting social assistance work, causing serious losses to the party’s cause and the interests of the people, and having a bad impact, and should be seriously held accountable.

In accordance with the “Regulations on the Accountability of the Communist Party of China”, “Regulations on Disciplinary Punishment of the Communist Party of China”, “Supervision Law of the People’s Republic of China” and other relevant provisions, as well as the disciplinary violations of Comrades Zheng Zhentao and Deng Haiguang, after the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and reported to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China for approval, it was decided to give Comrade Zheng Zhentao a serious warning within the party, and the State Supervision Commission would give him a major demerit in government affairs; The State Supervision Commission gave Comrade Deng Haiguang a demerit in government affairs.