Sichuan tycoon accused of criminal enterprise

'Protective umbrella'

Alongside the Liu brothers in the dock are three former local political and legal officials: Liu Xuejun, former political commissar of the Deyang public security bureau's criminal police contingent; Lyu Bin, director of Deyang public security bureau's equipment and finance department; and Liu Zhongwei, deputy chief prosecutor of the people's procuratorate in Shifang city.

According to Liu Wei, aside from financial favors, he would also accommodate the trio at his own club where the four would do drugs and party together. In return, Liu Xuejun buried case files. Liu Xuejun also ran interference after homicides, while Liu Zhongwei and Lyu Bin provided firearms and ammunition.

The Liu brothers forged a sophisticated network of crooked officials through bribery, helping with promotions and providing drugs. Investigations were interrupted, evidence was destroyed and absurdly light penalties were dished out.

For example, in May 2003, Sun Huajun, a member of Liu Han's circle, was arrested by the police for illegal possession of firearms. He was set free 15 days after his arrest.

Liu Han became widely connected to government officials in his search for an ever-more powerful "umbrella".

"Liu Han is extremely generous when dealing with government officials. He is willing to pay, and he knows how to cater to their like," said right-hand man Sun.

"Liu Han would take me to dine with them, and offer them gifts such as gold or jade worth even millions of yuan," said Liu's ex-wife, Yang Xue. "Sometimes he would deliberately lose when gambling to bribe them."

Yang Xue is being prosecuted in a separate case.

Liu Han's connections extended even to Beijing, according to Yang and other core members of the gang.

He gained access to top-ranking officials when he was elected to the standing committee of the Sichuan provincial committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and spent an enormous amount trying to bribe them.

Liu and members obtained a variety of political positions. Sun, for example, was a deputy to the Sichuan provincial People's Congress.

Liu Han's powerful connections gave him a certain amount of control over local government appointments and promotions.

In 2000, he proposed a tourist project at Mount Siguniang in Xiaojin county, but the plan was rejected by Ge, a county chief. Ge was swiftly transferred away from Xiaojin, and Liu Han's project got underway.

"Liu Han has money, connections, guns and lieutenants willing to kill for him. Everyone is afraid of him. Once he is offended, you either die or lose your job," said Wen Xiangzhuo, a member of Liu's gang.

For more than 10 years, Liu Han's bloc has intimidated Sichuan society. Even now, as police investigated in Sichuan, people with inside knowledge were reluctant to talk.

During a meeting on political and legal affairs last month, President Xi Jinping ordered law enforcement officers to "carry the sword of equality and scales of justice" and to defend those principles however they could.

It took a year of painstaking investigation under the direct command of the Ministry of Public Security before the gang was broken and its key members seized.

With the case now before the courts, the truth about the real Liu Han behind the billionaire facade awaits final exposure.