The Shanghai Higher People's Court has said that it will carefully handle the two cases involving municipal Communist Party chief Chen Liangyu and and business tycoon Zhou Zhengyi and will not show leniency toward them.

In an interview with Xinhua, Liu Hua, deputy president of the court, said that the court will launch a new working mechanism for trial of special criminal cases this year.

"Naturally, great care will be given to review and trial of the case of social security scandal in association with Chen Liangyu, formerly secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and the case involving Zhou Zhengyi," said the court official.

"If Chen and Zhou are proved guilty, we will adhere to the principle of giving same punishments for same crimes, and will show no leniency toward the two no matter how much wealth a convict owns or how high an official post a convict used to hold," she said.

Zhou Zhengyi, former president of Shanghai-based property firm Nongkai Development Group, was convicted of forging VAT receipts and manipulating the stock market in June 2004, but was dealt leniently and was sentenced to an imprisonment of three years only.

"This time, both cases have drawn wide attention from the society, so we ought to handle the two cases strictly according to law," said the court official.

The court has decided on four types of crimes which should be punished severely in accordance with the opinions worked out by the Supreme Court about providing judicial guarantee in the campaign to build a harmonious society in China, including the abuse of power which led to embezzlement, taking bribes and negligence of duty.

"Conditions for getting reprieves should be made known to the general public in a bid to step up anti-corruption drive, and the court grants reprieves where reprieves are applicable but should exercise restraint when criminals are convicted of abuse of power such as embezzlement and bribe-taking," said the court official.

Shanghai's social security fund scandal was exposed to the public last year, with 3.7 billion yuan (US$474 million) involved, including 3.45 billion yuan (US$442 million) in principle and 250 million yuan (US$32 million) of interest.

Investigators found the money had been illegally loaned, by a company of the municipal labor and social security bureau, to Shanghai Feidian Investment Development Co. Ltd, a company controlled by business tycoon Zhang Rongkun, number 16 on the Forbes China Rich List in 2005.

Zhang was the first person arrested in the Shanghai social security fund scandal, which also brought down a number of high-ranking officials including Chen Liangyu, who was also a member of the Political Bureau the CPC Central Committee.

Chen was sacked for his alleged involvement in the scandal by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China last September.

Zhou Zhengyi started business as a teenager in a wonton noodle shop and grew to number 11 on Forbes' list of 100 richest mainlanders. He was also the majority shareholder of the Hong Kong-listed Shanghai Land Holdings and Shanghai Merchants Holdings.

In 2002, Forbes estimated Zhou's wealth at about US$320 million.

Zhou was in June 2004 convicted of forging VAT receipts and manipulating the stock market and was sentenced to stay three years behind bars.

He was released from prison last May after completing his three-year sentence. But five months later, last October, Zhou was detained as prosecutors found new clues of crime.

Zhou was formally arrested by the municipal procuratorate on Jan. 21 this year with allegations of giving bribes and forging VAT receipts.

(Xinhua News Agency February 14, 2007)