Sinn der Hilfe Engel ! » d businessmen trying to curry fav

Targeting 'elegant' bribes in crackdown The objects do not have fixed prices and the deals are often sealed privately. A painting at a gallery will not sport a price tag Nick Martin Womens Jersey , bargaining is common at antique stores and at auctions, and bidders have only "high" or "low" estimates for reference. With these characteristics, works of art have long been viewed as a "grey area" opportunity for corruption - making it extremely difficult to identify precisely how much an art bribe is worth. Judicial prosecutors have recently been asked to brush up their knowledge of artworks and antiquities, so that they are better able to spot evidences of such yahui, or elegant bribery Julien Davenport Womens Jersey , in the behavior and activities of suspected corrupt officials. The far-reaching anti-corruption drive already seems to have hit yahui. Some auction houses have reported a drop in consignments from clients made up of government officials, retired and current. These boast rich collections of Chinese paintings and antiquities but dare not sell them at public auction for fear of being investigated, Chinese media reported. Beijing-based Art Market Monitor of Artron, an affiliation of Shenzhen printing company Artron, recently issued a report on the Chinese art auction market in the first half of the year. It predicted that unlike what had occurred in the past decade Zach Cunningham Womens Jersey , the Chinese art market will experience minimal eruptions and rocketing prices in the coming five years, a response to the economic slowdown. The cooling down will be felt strongly in Chinese painting and not just because of economic factors, according to the report. The Chinese painting market has been increasingly criticized as a conduit for deals between money and power, and the central government has vowed to target yahui in its corruption crackdown. Art bribery dates back to hundreds of years and extremely corrupt officials such as Yan Song of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and He Shen of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) were among its most notorious examples. After the art market revived in the 1990s, works of art sold for up to several hundred yuan and appeared more as gifts centering on their aesthetic value. But as the market boomed and prices hit tens of millions of yuan Deshaun Watson Womens Jersey , speculators looking for short-term gain flooded in the market. Works of art became a shortcut for cashing in, making it very convenient for yahui dealings. Some art market observers have questioned the extent that the anti-corruption drive can curb art bribery and whether a better way can be found to determine the true value of the bribes. Yahui-related pricing has disrupted the art market for years. There have been several cases of paintings in which investigators alleged involved bribes worth millions, only to find out the objects were deliberately overpriced. In other cases, officials sold a painting valued at several thousand yuan at auction only to have the bribers winning the bid by paying millions of yuan. These abnormalities cannot be eradicated if the market continues to function without a comprehensive pricing mechanism, analysts said. Some dealers and auctioneers have been fully involved in the "industry chain" of yahui. They help launder bribes and others consign a forged painting to dealers or auctioneers who then sell it to the bribers at the price of a genuine one. The practice of yahui reflects how bad the art market can be Whitney Mercilus Womens Jersey , when an independent authentication body has long been absent and cheating prevails without strict supervision, analysts said.
Mid-Autumn Festival gift-giving feels welcome effect of graft crackdown, reports An Baijie.


For civil servant Jin Bo, Mid-Autumn Festival used to be an exhausting affair. The official at a county in Dali, Yunnan province would be swamped sending and accepting gifts during the annual holiday. "I had to accept so many mooncakes as gifts that my family would have to eat them for breakfast for weeks Johnathan Joseph Womens Jersey ," said Jin, who is not using his real name to protect his identity and keep his job.


Celebrations for Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on Sept 8 this year, include eating the round-shaped confectionaries during family reunions.


The traditional mooncake gifts to mark the festival had gradually evolved into elaborately wrapped and expensive opportunities for people to present them to recipients whom they wished to build or maintain good relationships with.


That included businessmen trying to curry favor with officials like Jin.


Jin said that apart from accepting gifts, he also had to rack his brains to pick presents for his superiors during the festival - an "unwritten rule" among many government departments.