Comment on the Briefing Regarding the Fraud by Unscrupulous Merchants in the Ordering of Military Raincoats [1]
(26 April 1951)

Must be dealt with strictly, and cadres must be educated. [2]

Mao Zedong
April 26

[1] This is Mao Zedong's comment on the briefing dated 24 April 1951 by Li Liuru, Deputy Procurator-General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate of the Central People's Government.
[2] Li Liuru's briefing on the major loss of state property caused by unscrupulous merchants' fraud in the Military Commission's order of 2 million military raincoats stated that these raincoats were ordered from October to November 1950, with 550,000 pieces ordered through the Ministry of Light Industry of the Central People's Government in Beijing, Tianjin, and Qingdao by the Logistics Department of the North China Military Region on behalf of the Logistics Department of the Military Commission, and another 1.45 million pieces contracted in Shanghai and other places. Taking the 300,000 pieces contracted in Tianjin alone, because the unscrupulous merchants had prior knowledge of the raincoat order and, taking advantage of our army's urgent need, colluded and maneuvered to greatly inflate the cost of the raincoats, resulting in a loss of nearly 9 billion yuan (old Renminbi) to state property. If calculated on the basis of the 550,000 pieces ordered in Beijing, Tianjin, and Qingdao, the state loss exceeds 14 billion yuan (old Renminbi); if calculated on the basis of the 2 million pieces ordered nationwide, the state loss is even greater.