Police official with 8 false IDs sacked

A police official in Changzhi, Shanxi province, was dismissed for further investigation after he was found to have several false ID cards and used them to transfer and hide illegal gains, China Daily learned on Friday.

Fan Hongwei, 53, former deputy director of Changzhi's public security bureau and chief of the bureau's traffic police detachment, was shown by a preliminary investigation to have received several ID cards with fake identities when he headed the public security bureau in Zhangzi, Tunliu and Changzhi counties.

The ongoing investigation, which is being carried out by the Shanxi provincial public security department and Changzhi city government, started after Fan's phony IDs were exposed online recently.

On April 15, a person who claimed to be "a policeman from Changzhi public security bureau" posted an article in a popular online forum, saying that while Fan worked as police director in several counties he got large amounts of money by illegal means.

The article said Fan got eight false ID cards in the counties to transfer and hide the money, then canceled and deleted the ID cards after he finished the money transfers.

But Fan's fake ID information was still in the national identity information system, the post said.

Chinese bank regulations stipulate that anyone opening a savings account must provide an ID card.

Photos of Fan's false ID cards were posted, showing that Fan used his own head shot with various names that had the same pronunciation but with different Chinese characters.

The article said that the policeman reported Fan to the discipline committee of the Shanxi provincial Party committee many times but got no response.

The story added that once Fan told his friends after he drank too much that he was never scared about the complaints made about him to the discipline committee because he had bribed Jin Daoming, former discipline committee secretary of Shanxi provincial Party committee.

On Feb 27, it was announced that Jin was under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

The facts confirmed Fan's drunken words, the article said, as Fan was not punished and instead was promoted to be deputy director of Changzhi city's police bureau .

Wu Qiming, a lawyer with the Xi'an-based Shaanxi Mingzhi Law Firm, said that Fan was in violation of the household registration system when he used more than one ID card at the same time, and also can be charged with the crime of counterfeiting State organ documents.

A woman from Shaanxi province who was found to have four ID cards was sentenced to three years' imprisonment last September for the crimes of forgery and sale of State organ documents.