An Anti-Corruption Storm Sparked by an Approval Form

A project consulting fee reimbursement form for 1.2 million yuan tears open a tacitly accepted gray area in Jiangchuan Province's state-owned assets system. Lin Yan, director of the provincial investment group's general office, holds fast to the rules and refuses to approve a payment application with incomplete documents. In an instant, he collides with an entrenched alliance of interests spanning local governments and businesses. Dinner invitations, verbal pressure, reassignment and sidelining, and appeals to personal connections all come crashing down on him. On one side are the unwritten rules of compromise accepted by the clique; on the other are the clear-cut lines of discipline, set down in black and white. Shen Jingzhi, deputy secretary of the commission for discipline inspection, spots a flaw in a stack of records that are suspiciously neat. A USB drive and the conscience of a timid accountant set off an anti-corruption storm that sweeps through local state-owned enterprises. The world is full of wrong turns, but some people still choose to walk straight into the headwind.