Six people in Yanggang Province’s Daehongdan County who earned money by siphoning off electricity from the national grid were recently put on public trial, Daily NK has learned.
A source from Yanggang Province told Daily NK yesterday that six residents of Daehongdan County secretly sold electricity flowing into businesses and military bases to various local people. On Mar. 9, the six were given a public trial in front of the county party committee’s office.
According to the source, around 100 electrical workers in the county along with managers of various organizations and businesses attended the public trial. The six brought to trial faced criticism over charges of selling electricity from the national grid to private individuals – bringing in a large sum of money over a period of seven years – and, consequently, damaging the economy. At the conclusion of the trial, the six were handed over to officials with the Ministry of Social Security.
According to the source, the scheme was exposed after a middle school student went to his friend’s house to hang out and saw that it had electricity all day long. After returning home, he told his father, an official with the county-level Ministry of Social Security.
After picking up the tip, county officials searched every house near the local military base and potato starch manufacturing plant, both places with supplies of electricity, over a 10-day period. During the intense investigation, officials identified every house that was using electricity 24 hours a day, revealing that the houses had been using “stolen electricity” for as long as seven years in cahoots with officials at the military base and manufacturing plant.
During the public trial, it was revealed that the six, all cadres or managers related to electricity supply in the military base and manufacturing plant, had abused their authority and took kickbacks to siphon off electricity for around seven years.
Moreover, the investigation showed discovered that the six had been receiving USD 300 in “electricity fees” from the houses supplied with stolen electricity on an annual basis. When government crackdowns became more severe due disease-control measures related to COVID-19, however, the six tried to force their clients to pay USD 500, which even led to a fight between the six and those buying the electricity.
Later in the trial, those who had been suffering financially during the COVID-19 pandemic fiercely condemned the “powerful” defendants for stealing electricity from the national grid and seeking only individual profit without giving due consideration to the national economy.
People who witnessed the public trial had various impressions of what they saw. Many expressed sympathy for those who had paid for electricity and complained that the government should be providing more electricity to the people.
“One person said that it’s only possible to get surgery done at a hospital if you pay for the hospital’s electricity fees for that entire day,” the source said, adding, “The person went on to ask rhetorically what kind of country fails to provide electricity given how essential it is.”
Translated by Jason Mallet
