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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, April 08, 2002

Corrupt Official's Flats Fail to be Sold

An auction of two flats owned by relatives of the corrupt senior leader of Shenyang in Northeast China's Liaoning Province was stopped Sunday in Beijing because the opening bids were too high. Beijing-based Jianya Shiji Auction Company, which organized the auction, said the flats will be auctioned again, after the trustees decide a new opening bid.


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Auction of two flats stopped

An auction of two flats owned by relatives of the corrupt senior leader of Shenyang in Northeast China's Liaoning Province was stopped Sunday in Beijing because the opening bids were too high.

The two apartments are in Chaoyang District, also known as the central business district. Each has a construction area of 178 square metres.

Both were registered under the name of the mother-in-law of former Shenyang Mayor Mu Suixin's daughter.
Mu Suixin's Bribe Case
Mu Suixin, former mayor of this capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve by a local court recently.

Mu was tried in mid-August this year on charges of accepting nearly eight million yuan (nearly one million U.S. dollars) in bribes and not being able to identify the sources of some 2.7 million yuan (over 320,000 U.S. dollars).

The Intermediate People's Court of Dalian, a port city in the province, issued a final judgment on October 10 that Mu had taken 6.61 million yuan (nearly 800,000 U.S. dollars) in bribes. >>details



Mu was found guilty of bribery and sentenced to death but given a two-year reprieve.

The apartments were bought in April 2000 for 3.4 million yuan (US$400,000) - 9,100 yuan (US$1,100) per square metre.

They are now worth 9,800 yuan (US$1,181) per square metre.

The opening bids were 9,260 yuan (US$1,115) and 9,280 yuan (US$1,118) respectively.

"The opening bids were too high, and nobody participating in the auction showed any interest," said Yue Hongsheng, general manager of the auction company.

Potential bidders said they didn't know the bidding would be so high.

"We attend these auctions because their bidding prices are much lower than the market prices, but that was not the case this time," said a fair participant who refused to be identified.

Auction to be resumed

Beijing-based Jianya Shiji Auction Company, which organized the auction, said the flats will be auctioned again, after the trustees decide a new opening bid.

The high opening bids were set by Shenyang's public security authorities.

At Sunday's auction, four illegally purchased flats were auctioned off but seven others, including Mu's two apartments, received no bids, Yue said.

He said his company was famous in the capital for auctioning illegally obtained assets.

"My company has been involved in such auctions twice before, and most of the assets were auctioned off," Yue said.

Beijing has 64 auction companies, 25 of which have permission from local authorities to sell off illegally obtained assets.


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