Society

Police chief 'innocent' in banquet probe

By Chen Hong (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-07 08:36

SHENZHEN: A senior police officer who hosted a lavish 108-table wedding reception for his daughter at a five-star hotel in the city has emerged innocent after an investigating team concluded its probe into possible corruption on Wednesday.

Local citizens and netizens, however, voiced serious doubts over the authenticity of the result of the investigation.

The investigators found that the family of the bridegroom paid for the banquet, which cost 492,598 yuan ($72,000), held on Tuesday night, and also collected 36,000 yuan, which the newlywed couple received in cash as gifts from the guests.

The team concluded that the bride's father, Liu Shengqiang, deputy chief of Shenzhen Public Security Bureau's airport branch, did not break any law or take personal advantage from the event.

However, Liu has been asked to submit a written explanation about the banquet since so much about it has appeared in the media, a police statement said.

The four policemen who drove to the banquet in police vehicles have been asked to pay for fuel costs, it said.

Chen Maosheng, a self-employed resident of Shenzhen, is just one of the many local citizens who are certain the investigation was nothing but an eyewash.

"There were 108 tables full of guests. That means there were at least 1,000 guests. Are you asking me to believe that each guest gave less than 36 yuan in hongbao (red envelopes) to the newlyweds?" he said.

Handing over hongbao filled with money to the host is a longstanding tradition in China, where the practice has, in some cases, turned into a convenient way of giving and accepting bribes.

"I have lived in Shenzhen for 20 years and have never offered anything less than 500 yuan in hongbao at parties. And when you go to a party hosted by a deputy police chief, you don't give anything less than 1,000 yuan," an Internet user commented on the news report on 163.com on Wednesday.

Liu had told reporters on Monday he knew the wedding banquet would attract the media's attention, but he could not cancel it as both families wanted friends to be present at the occasion.

The banquet was held just days after Chen Xizhao, deputy-director of the public security bureau of Lianjiang, another city in Guangdong, was suspended in the wake of allegations of receiving money from guests he invited to celebrate the purchase of his new villa.

According to a Yangcheng Evening News on Wednesday, bookings of more than 2,100 banquet tables, estimated to be valued at 1.68 million yuan, were canceled by officials in Lianjiang during the New Year holiday, following a new policy issued on Dec 31 limiting the number of tables at parties hosted by officials to no more than 10.