Cars, properties sink official

A local village official in Shenzhen has been arrested on suspicion of illegally obtaining a large number of properties and taking and offering brides, the Shenzhen People's Procuratorate in Guangdong Province announced on Monday.

Zhou Weisi, head of Nanlian village in Longgang district in the city, was arrested on February 8 for violations that mainly involve an urban renewal project, the procuratorate said on its website.

Zhou first gained infamy late last year, when a local businessman claimed on tianya.cn that Zhou owned more than 80 properties and 20 luxurious cars worth some 2 billion yuan ($320 million).

The procuratorate noted Monday that the majority of Zhou's properties were obtained before he was employed by the village. Whether some of his properties were obtained illegally is still being investigated.

Three other suspects involved in the case, including He Yonghua, a deputy director of Urban Management Bureau of Longgang District, have also been arrested, and two others are under investigation, said the procuratorate's website, which did not name the other people involved.

The procuratorate detained Zhou on January 24 on suspicion of bribery.

Zhou is accused of accepting over 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) from a local real estate company that was involved in the urban renewal project in Nanlian community. The procuratorate said Zhou helped the company reduce costs by persuading residents to accept less compensation. The procuratorate said He, who was in charge of cracking down on illegal buildings, received bribes from Zhou in exchange for not closing some illegal structures in the community.

Zhou was also a vice-president of the Nanlian Corporation, an affiliated company of the village, the procuratorate's investigation found.

"It is common that the head of a local community is also the head of an affiliated company in Shenzhen. If there is a lack of supervision, crimes such as bribery can more easily occur and damage the public interest," the procuratorate said on its website.

In November, when news of Zhou's wealth sent shock waves through social media, he admitted that he owned more than 10 luxury cars but denied he owned 80 properties. "I can't figure out the extract number of properties but it was definitely fewer than 80," he was quoted by the local news website sznews.com as saying.

In the same interview, Zhou said he bought properties prior to becoming an official but admitted he received 100 million yuan in compensation for some of his properties after he was employed by the local government. Later, Zhou used this money to buy more properties and cars.