Funds spent on Nikes for bank staff to 'run faster in disaster'
A branch head of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) in Mianyang, Sichuan, was suspended for using reconstruction funds to buy Nike shoes for its staff to help them 'run faster when disasters strike'.
A statement posted on the ICBC's official website yesterday confirmed that the head of Fucheng branch in Mianyang city was under investigation over the purchase.
The Beijing Times said he was surnamed Gao and was also the party secretary of the bank branch.
He decided to buy 56 pairs of Nikes - which cost 28,520 yuan (HK$32,330) - after one of his employers twisted her ankle while fleeing during an aftershock on May 25. The incident concerned him and made him think that good quality sports shoes would facilitate rapid evacuation, the paper said.
The 'special expenses' on the purchase invoice spent on Nikes were claimed as relief supplies like 'raincoats, rain boots and umbrellas'. The bank said: 'This is an act that violates regulations of a financial operation and we will punish those in charge.'
'The expenditure was wasteful and the branch [head] should not fake an expense claim form,' it said. It also made clear that money to buy the shoes, which had been repaid, did not come from public donations but from funds allocated by ICBC headquarters.
