500 villagers sue officials
( 2003-10-22 15:07) (China Daily)
More than 500 villagers have hauled 18 village officials to court for
allegedly embezzling 6 million yuan (US$722,890) in public funds, reports
Shenzhen Commercial Daily.
Without villagers' consent, the officials approved construction of two
factory buildings in 1987 and leased them to overseas investors.
Claiming the factory was built with personal investment, the 18 pocketed the
revenues, totalling more than 6 million yuan.
A university student from Sichuan who came to the village to work in one of
the factories in 1999 learned of the villagers' suspicions and helped them
investigate.
The villagers gathered evidence that construction was partly funded through
bank loans to the village, which were repaid with public
funds.
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