Rape claim in Chongqing case

One of the women implicated in the Chongqing sex scandal, which has brought down the careers of a number of local government officials, was also a victim of rape after being drugged by property developer Xiao Ye, the ringleader of the extortion racket, her husband has alleged.

Li Feng, husband of Zhao Hongxia who was filmed having sex with six government officials, told the Shandong-based Qilu Evening News that her former boss Xiao had raped her before persuading her to get involved in the plot to extort the officials.

Zhao, 31, was arrested by Chongqing prosecutors on December 31 after the sex tapes were posted online.

The officials in the tapes included Lei Zhengfu, former Party chief of Chongqing's Beibei district. The video clip of Zhao and Lei led to the downfall of the six Party and government officials including Lei. Five executives of State-owned enterprises have also been fired.

Zhao was one of several women hired by a criminal gang in 2007 to seduce local officials and film them with hidden cameras, which would then be used to extort them, the Qilu Evening news report said.

Li told the newspaper that Zhao's lawyers had told him of the alleged rape in February. According to Li, Xiao invited Zhao to dinner on September 16, 2007, which was Zhao's birthday. She drank a little beer before she felt dizzy and was taken to the Yueyou Hotel in Chongqing.

Zhao told her lawyers that Xiao entered her room at midnight and forced himself on her, and she was unable to defend herself. She was scared to turn to police, and believed Xiao when he said he would give her a better future. She started a relationship with Xiao, before he asked her to seduce Lei and other officials.

A former employee of Xiao's company, Xu Yang, apparently confessed that Zhao had been given beer spiked with drugs at the birthday meal. Deng Li, another woman involved in the sex tapes, also claimed that the beer was drugged, Li told the paper.

Deng also alleged that many other women who had worked for Xiao had also been drugged and raped by him, said Li. Hu Haixia, who shot the sex video, said she was also a victim of Xiao, and would not have had sex with him unless she was drugged, according to Li.

Zhao's lawyers, Zhang Zhiyong and Peng Yiping, have submitted details of the alleged rape to Chongqing police, but police have twice refused to admit the details for lack of evidence. Li and Zhao have appealed for Xiao's other victims to unite, so he can be properly punished.

Xiao, Zhao and four others were formally indicted over the extortion, and the case has been passed to Chonqing's Yubei district court, local prosecutors announced Wednesday. Lei is to face corruption charges at a later date.