More than 100 Chinese officials involved in National Games ‘land compensation scams’
Prosecutor jailed for life amid bogus claims made as part of preparations for sports meeting in Shenyang, according to newspaper report
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 17 February, 2015, 11:37am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 17 February, 2015, 11:37am
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The Shenyang stadium that hosted the 2013 National Games. Officials colluded with homeowners to make inflated or bogus compensation claims for land seized to make way for the sports meeting. Photo: SCMP Pictures
More than 100 government officials in Shenyang in northeast China were involved in bogus compensation claims worth over 300 million (HK$378 million) when the city hosted the national sports games, according to a newspaper report.
Anti-corruption investigators have found that officials colluded with home owners in the area to make false compensation claims, the Beijing Morning Post reported.
The scams included increasing the number of people registered as living in homes that had to be demolished to increase compensation payouts, the report said.
Houses were also built on land that had been purchased for the National Games in 2013, the newspaper said.
Zhang Dongyang, a former chief prosecutor in Shenyang, has been jailed for life on corruption charges, according to the report.
Lin Qiang, the head of a management committee overseeing an economic zone in the city, has been jailed for 13 years.
Several cases linked to the fraud have been heard in court recently in Shenyang, said the newspaper, but gave no further details.
The city started evictions in 2011 for building projects for the National Games.
The Manrong Economic Zone illegally paid out 114 million yuan in land compensation and 18 villages in the Dongling district of the city swindled 185 million yuan, according to an investigation by provincial and Shenyang anti-corruption investigators.
A property developer in Shenyang gave Zhang 5.7 million yuan in kickbacks and Ma 1.3 million yuan, US$40,000 and a pre-paid shopping card worth 100,000 yuan, according to the report.
