Red Cross rents out storehouse to benefit employees

The storehouse has been rented out by the RCSC for profit. [Photo: official account of CCTV's news center]

(ECNS) -- The Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) has admitted to renting out a relief materials storehouse for profit without authorisation to support its employees, following exposure.

Zhao Baige, executive vice president of the RCSC, admitted that they have rented out a warehouse, which should ideally be used to store relief materials, to a firm at the price of 900,000 yuan ($146,539) per year.

However, she defended the RCSC by saying it has to profit in order to support its employees, despite the lack of authorization. The warehouse had been kept empty, with no relief materials stored inside, Zhao added.

The government only shoulders two thirds of RCSC relief center expenditure, according to the VP.

An investigation report revealed that the firm in question involves itself with express delivery services and has profited by 3.6 million yuan a year.

Construction on the storehouse received approval in 2008 as the country's first national-level storage facility for relief materials after the RCSC submitted an application as early as 2004.

With an allocation of 117 million yuan in government funding, the warehouse was put into operation in 2010.