Recently, some Chinese officials have been accused of such ravenous corruption that, like finalists in a hot dog eating competition, they inspire a kind of appalled bafflement: Just how could they cram so much in?
Even with seemingly intense competition, though, one lowly official appears to be in a class of his own. If state news reports are to be believed, investigators found 120 million renminbi, or $19.6 million, in cash in his home. As well as 37 kilograms, or 81.6 pounds, of gold. And ownership documents for 68 homes.
Xinhua, the state news agency, mentioned the details of the official’s home booty on Wednesday, almost in passing, in a report about anticorruption investigations in Hebei Province, in northern China.
“Like a rat that fell into a rice bin, he swallowed as much ill-gotten wealth as his appetite allowed,” one commentary said.
President Xi Jinping of China famously warned that in his campaign against graft, he would go after both flies and tigers: lower-ranking officials as well as the most powerful. But this was a very, very fat fly, and on Thursday, Chinese newspapers picked up the case, trying to figure out how a single, section-level cadre could accumulate so much wealth.
For Mr. Xi and other Communist Party leaders, the answer to that question may prove to be a little awkward. The Southern Metropolitan Daily and Xinhua reported that the official accused of hoarding such gross wealth was Ma Chaoqun, formerly the manager of a government company supplying water for Beidaihe, the seaside resort where party officials like to take their secretive summer breaks.
“The company is responsible for providing safe water for central leaders and Chinese and foreign tourists during the summer,” the newspaper said.
Xinhua reported that Mr. Ma was transferred in 2012 to the urban management bureau of the city of Qinhuangdao, which encompasses the resort.
But an unidentified official from Hebei Province told the newspaper that he could not confirm that the investigators had found such riches in Mr. Ma’s home. “The final number may be different,” the official said.
Apart from the mystery of how Mr. Ma apparently became so rich, there is the puzzle of where he hid so much cash. Underneath the mattress seems implausible. In 100-renminbi notes, 100 million renminbi would occupy 1.2 cubic meters, or 42 cubic feet, and weigh about one metric ton, connoisseurs of corruption have estimated.
But in this respect, Mr. Ma has one rival in the graft record books. In late October, investigators in Beijing said they had found more than 200 million renminbi in cash, Chinese and foreign, in the home of Wei Pengyuan, a central government official who helped oversee coal production.