For more than nine years, a company in Jilin has deducted more than 700,000 yuan of the primary school’s campus lunch fees to bribe officials.
On the evening of January 5th, the first episode of the TV documentary “Combating Corruption for the People” co-produced by the Propaganda Department of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision and CCTV of the Central Radio and Television Station was broadcast, titled “Punishing蝇贪蚁腐”.
This episode disclosed a typical case of campus meal corruption investigated and dealt with through centralized rectification – the case of the Caterer’s Rebate Corruption at No.7 Primary School of Jilintrdeqing Automobile Economic Development Zone.
The documentary revealed that in 2024, during centralized rectification work, there were reports from the public to the Jilin Provincial Chengyu Commissions for Discipline Inspection and Supervision about how the former logistics director of No.7 Primary School, Qi Shiguo, and others made profits from the student lunch fees. The Chengyu Commissions immediately conducted an initial verification and, on the basis of clarifying facts and fixing evidence, designated the Gongzhuling City Commissions for Discipline Inspection and Supervision to investigate the case. The investigation found that from August 2008, Jilin Gaoluf Catering Management Company provided meals for No.7 Primary School. In August 2010, in order to maintain a long-term partnership with the school, the company colluded with Qi Shiguo, the then logistics director, and other school officials to offer rebates as a means of benefit transfer.
According to Zhao Binglong, an investigator from Gongzhuling City Commissions for Discipline Inspection and Supervision, “Initially, this company was just a small workshop or restaurant near the school. They negotiated with the school to provide meals for students, offering a certain amount of money per student as a kickback. Gradually, they reached this agreement.”
In 2010, when the lunch fee at No.7 Primary School was set at 8 yuan per meal, Gaoluf Catering Management Company reached an agreement with the then principal and logistics director responsible for this work to provide each of them with a nickel rebate per meal. By 2014, when the lunch fee increased to 12 yuan per meal, the rebates also rose to three mao per meal.
In front of the camera, Qi Shiguo, the former logistics director of No.7 Primary School in Jilin City expressed his remorse: “I deeply regret what I have done. The money collected from parents should be used entirely for ensuring food quality and quantity for children. As a teacher, I should have adhered to my professional ethics standards and should not have accepted any money, no matter how small it is.”
From August 2010 to December 2019, over a period of more than nine years, Gaoluf Catering Management Company’s executives colluded with Qi Shiguo and others to form a chain of interests, pocketing student lunch fees for their own benefit. Gaoluf Catering Management Company illegally deducted more than 700,000 yuan from student lunch fees for unit bribes, with Qi Shiguo alone accepting more than 230,000 yuan.
The documentary emphasizes that even a few cents in rebates can be equally harmful as large amounts of corruption. Every child is a family’s treasure and the future of our country. Primary school is also a critical period for children’s growth, so skimping on student board fees can affect children’s health and directly infringe upon the interests of students and parents – it is a matter that concerns people’s hearts.
Currently, Qi Shiguo and other individuals involved in the case along with Gaoluf Catering Management Company have been severely dealt with. However, punishment is only a means while governance is our ultimate goal. The Jilin Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision analyzed five major issues identified in campus meal cases such as collecting rebates from catering companies, misappropriating student meal fees, irregular subcontracting and procurement irregularities in ingredients procurement and financial management as well as inadequate daily supervision. The Commission has also promoted eight departments including the Provincial Department of Education to jointly formulate various institutional standards for campus meals such as food quality standards, access standards, operational evaluation criteria, exit standards and punishment measures related to campus catering management. Furthermore, they have also promoted evaluations of large-scale food procurement through centralized procurement by universities and self-run cafeterias in primary schools among other measures that ensure effective implementation of these standards through supervision from relevant departments to ensure campus meal quality from source.
Liu Yeteng, deputy director of the fifth supervision office of Jilin Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision stated that “Through our systematic rectification measures across various regulatory links can be effectively implemented to ensure that children eat healthy, safely and securely. Ultimately we want to achieve one goal – people’s satisfaction.”
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