An investigation by the Huxian county public security bureau is underway to verify complaints of corruption directed at a former bureau director from more than 100 police officers under his command.

Wen Zhigang, who was the bureau director in 2003, is being blamed for the delay in the completion of 17 residential buildings for police officers.

Construction reportedly started in November 2003, and in their complaints officers state that they did not receive keys to the apartments until 2007, allegedly two years after the proposed completion date.

Wen, who is currently the housing director for the Xi'an public security bureau, is also accused of mishandling money used to build the accommodations.

The accusations, published online on a national website on Aug 16, state that the total amount of fees collected from policemen for the buildings totaled nearly 100 million yuan ($14.6 million). The actual cost, allege the officers, was 50 million yuan.

Liu Yiming, one of the officers who put his name on the corruption report, said the quality of the buildings is poor.

"Many houses suffer from water leaks when it rains and there are cracks in the walls," said another policeman in the report.

The public security bureau of Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province - which has juridiction over the Huxian bureau - said it was aware of the report since Aug 2008 and conducted an initial investigation. A second investigation, said Xi'an bureau spokesman Qian Baiyun, will be done now to verify the complaints.

"Investigations into the major problems contained in the recent report from the policemen began in August 2008, when Xi'an public security bureau received information from a high-level discipline inspection commission," Qian, the publicity director for the bureau, said on Thursday. "But the complaints were not verified then."

Qiu Biao, director of Huxian county public security bureau and former deputy director of the bureau from Jan 2005 to Aug 2007, firmly denied the accusations of corruption during the construction of the officers' housing.

Wen, 51, was transferred after 2003 to the Xi'an public security bureau. He has worked as a police officer since 1979. He said that he did not receive any money from the construction of the housing.

Qian said that Wen was still working as housing director for Xi'an during the initial investigation and that the problems against him have not been confirmed.

(China Daily August 21, 2009)