Hukou forgery scandals highlight police corruption(2)

BLACK MARKET

Soon after suspicion arose over Gong's own corruption, people diverted their attention to the broader issue of fake identities. They found Gong was far from alone in enjoying multiple hukou.

Zhai Zhenfeng, a former director of the housing administrative bureau in a district of Zhengzhou, capital of Henan Province, and his three family members were all confirmed to have double identities after they were found to own 31 houses last month.

Zhai was later arrested on suspicion of crimes by taking advantages of duty.

In China, hukou are strictly managed, as it is an important certificate that allows people to to enjoy education, medical care and to buy limited property.

Hukou transfer is usually very difficult, especially in big cities for population control reasons. Currently, the most common way to transfer hukou is through university. A university graduate may have the hukou transferred to the city where he works if the company is allocated a hukou quota from authorities.

To cool the property market, the Chinese government forbade individuals to buy a third house from 2012, prompting many people to acquire a fake identity to escape from the legal limit.

A Xinhua reporter found by investigation that a fake hukou can be bought for between 30,000 yuan and 50,000 at a grass-roots police station in a county of northeast China's Jilin Province.

"What do I need to prepare to get an extra hukou?" the reporter asked, pretending to be interested in buying one.

"Only a photo is needed, a different one from the one on your current ID card," a policeman replied, adding it took about one month to finish all procedures.

In fact, it was found that the new hukou is not even "fake," as all the documents and procedures are exactly the same as those used to get a legitimate one.

The policeman said their "business" has been thriving in recent years.

Zhao Yan, which is not his real name, told Xinhua he did not worry about the illegality of his forged ID because it would not be discovered.

"I will use it only when I buy more apartments, and the property transaction workers will find all information on the computer database inputed by the police," he said. "The fake hukou will be useful if nobody blows the whistle on you."

Fake hukou use is not restricted to people purchasing extra properties. Corrupt officials themselves have also been found to have extra identities to shun the attentions of watchdogs and the public.

Tao Yong, former head of the Public Security Bureau of Fengyang County, Anhui Province, had faked an ID under the name of Zhang Wei to open bank accounts in different cities for bribery taking.

Tao was arrested in mid December for corruption and stood trial on Jan. 16. The ruling has not been handed down.

Chen Wenzhu, former head of the local branch of the tobacco monopoly in the southern city of Shanwei, Guangdong Province, forged IDs to bypass the ruling party's restrictions on cadres traveling outside the mainland and "illegally visited" Hong Kong and Macao about 74 times.

Chen was removed from his post and expelled from the CPC over corruption charges in October 2011.

Experts believe the rampant fake hukou market has revealed supervisory loopholes to the police.

"The root of the fake hukou market lies in corruption, as these police have deliberately broken the law for personal gain," said Sun Zhiming, head of the Economy Institute of the Jilin Provincial Academy of Social Sciences.

Sun called for thorough investigations to track the industry chain behind the black market and crack down on corruption in public security sectors.

The new CPC leadership have vowed to battle corruption since they took office in November.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Central Committee of the CPC, said at a CPC disciplinary watchdog meeting on Tuesday, that the Party would unswervingly fight against corruption and keep power reined within the cage of regulations.