Hukou forgery scandals highlight police corruption

Recent scandals have revealed the existence of a black market involving corrupt police and dealing in fake hukou, the legal document which helps limit house purchases and control access to social services in China.

In the latest case, three police officers in northwest China were suspended after a former deputy bank chief under their jurisdiction was confirmed to have used multiple fake hukou to buy property.

The three, including the deputy head of the public security bureau of Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province, have been ordered to cooperate with investigators, said an official with the county committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

He Yaling, deputy chief of Daliuta Township, was also suspended, the official said on Thursday. He formerly served as deputy head of the township's police station, which governed one of the fake hukou.

Their punishments will be determined by further investigations, said the official.

MULTIPLE HUKOU REVEALED

Initial investigations found that the two fake hukou, created in Shaanxi's neighboring Shanxi Province and transferred to the county, were revoked in January 2012 and on Jan. 19, 2013. Another one, forged in Beijing, was revoked on Thursday.

The hukou is a Chinese permanent residence registration and personal identification system administrated by public security departments.

Gong Aiai, former deputy head of a bank in Shenmu, was confirmed to have four hukou, one of them legitimate.

A spokesman with the Ministry of Public Security on Thursday said the ministry has organized a special team to investigate the case.

Earlier this month, online whistleblowers revealed that Gong had accumulated over 20 properties worth an estimated 1 billion yuan (159 million U.S. dollars) in Beijing using fake IDs naming her as Gong Aiai and Gong Xianxia.

Following the online exposure, Gong explained that she quit her job with the Shenmu County Commercial Bank and started helping her family with their family businesses, which include mining. The houses were purchased with her legal income, and she did not use her position at the bank to acquire them, she said.

Yu Qingcai, chairman of the bank, said Gong tendered her resignation last year and has not contacted the bank since. The bank approved her resignation request early this month.