Fake Chinese Communist official arrested after earning US$2.6M in payoffs

BEIJING (AP) - A man earned US$2.6 million in payoffs in an elaborate scam in which he masqueraded as a senior official in China's ruling Communist Party, the government said Tuesday. The man - whose name was given only as Huang - was arrested along with his "secretary" and "guards" for fraud, after one of his victims tipped off police, a report on the official Chinacourt website said.

To make himself appear like a genuine party secretary of the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Huang rented a traditional courtyard house for US$395,000 late last year as an office and living quarters.

It is not unusual for Chinese to pretend they are officials to earn perks or payoffs, but rare for someone to impersonate a person of such a high level. The Central Committee is one of the most powerful bodies in China.

Huang hired a dozen retired soldiers to be guards at the compound, the report said. He also had fake photos of him with China's top state leaders hanging in the office.

In January, a man surnamed Han was invited to meet with "top party official" Huang, the report said. Huang told Han that the Yanshan Hotel in Beijing was about to be sold off and convinced Han to pay US$1.3 million in advance for shares.

Han later found out that Huang was not who he claimed to be and contacted the police, the report said.

Another four companies gave US$1.3 million to Huang, the report said without giving further details.

In a separate report, the China News Service said 24,900 cases of commercial bribery worth US$820 million were registered in the first half of the year, citing figures from the Central Committee's Discipline Department.

Party and government officials were involved in 22 per cent of them, it said.

© The Canadian Press, 2007