The story appears on

Page A1

August 20, 2014

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Metro

Probe into city customs officials

FOUR officials with Shanghai Customs are being investigated for possible corruption, China’s business-focused website caixin.com reported yesterday.

The main figure among the four is Bian Zuyao, 61, former deputy head of Shanghai Customs.

Two unidentified insiders, one linked to the Customs and the other to discipline inspection authorities, told the website that Bian was taken away by the Communist Party’s discipline inspection commission around July 11, when he had retired, and that he was being held in custody in Zhengzhou City, capital of central China’s Henan Province.

The insiders told the website that officials seized more than 10 million yuan (US$1.6 million) cash in Bian’s home and found that Bian owned at least seven apartments.

The insiders said Bian was in charge of the construction of the Customs office building in the city’s Waigaoqiao port.

However, the building was found to be poorly constructed as water wouldn’t drain away, and the roofs and walls had leaks, according to the report.

Another insider told the website that Bian had also given several houses to a city government official.

Bian was appointed head of Shanghai Customs’s Pudong branch in 2004 and promoted to become deputy head of Shanghai Customs and a member of its Party committee in 2006.

Apart from Bian, Zhengzhou prosecutors also took away three other officials for investigation around August 10, Caixin said.

They were Ling Xiong, director of the Customs’ anti-smuggling bureau in Waigaoqiao port; Zhu Liang, director of the Customs’ processing trade inspection sector; and Han Jinxi, who supervised part of the Customs’ on-site business, according to the website.

Ling was investigated over the alleged sale of smuggled vehicles, Zhu over allegations he sold bonded and confiscated goods, which were said to include some 1.5 million yuan in overseas currency and a luxury watch, while it was claimed that Han was disguising new imported vehicles as used so as to profit from the different tax rates.

Zhengzhou prosecutors’ investigation into Shanghai Customs was ordered by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, according to the website.




 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号