Opinion | China Red Cross donations in doubt after new figures show discrepancies

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A man donates money to the Red Cross in Dongguan Great Mosque in Xining, capital of northwest China's Qinghai province. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 1:46pm, 20 May 2013Updated: 4:13am, 29 Aug 2013

A public outcry against missing donations by the Red Cross Society of China has morphed into subdued scepticism after the Ministry of Civil Affairs reviewed figures at the weekend that indicated considerable amount of funds had disappeared.

On Friday, the ministry, which is charged with supervising charity organisations, had published how much charities nationwide had collected for rescue and reconstruction efforts in Sichuan province after the April 20 earthquake.

The press release indicated that both arms of the Chinese Red Cross had collected some 158.8 million yuan (HK$200 million) in funds and material up to May 9.

The Southern Metropolis Daily compared the figure with that reported by the Red Cross on its Sina Weibo microblog and found a discrepancy of 463,200 yuan. The report by the Guangzhou-based daily on Saturday led to an outpouring of anger against the charity on social media.

On Sunday, the ministry issued a "supplementary statement" that said the discrepancy was caused by different cut-off dates and published new figures that added up.

But the damage may already be done. "You can believe what they say or not, I certainly don't," a commenter posted online. "You can donate or not, I certainly won't."

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