A former postal bureau director in south China will soon face
prosecution after she allegedly defrauded a total of 1.79 billion
yuan (US$238 million) from 352 depositors to fulfill her mounting
gambling debts.
He Liqiong, the former director of the branch of the Post Office
Bureau of Lanshi Town in the city of Foushan, Guangdong Province, will stand to prosecutions
after she allegedly used fake bankbooks to take the money from
depositors' accounts, the Shanghai Morning Post reported
today.
The post office in China offers many services similar to banks
as well as traditional postal services.
She will also be indicted for allegedly hiring someone to stab
another government official, the report said.
He, who was arrested on August 8 last year, allegedly officered
higher interest rates to any depositor who introduced new deposit
clients to her post office, the report said.
The new clients could only withdraw money by making a personal
appointment with her, the report said. That allowed her to give
them fake bankbooks and siphon off their cash, according to
prosecutors.
She would transfer the money that new clients tried to deposit
to her own account to pay off huge gambling debts she ran up in
Macao, according to the report.
In early August last year, a deputy director of the Tax Bureau
in Lanshi was stabbed by a stranger after he had made several calls
telling his friends they should withdraw their savings from He's
post office immediately as he had heard rumors something fishy was
going on. The report didn't say how badly he was injured.
He Liqiong is charged with setting up that stabbing.
(Shanghai Daily November 13, 2007)