Sting operation snares Chinese customs officials 'taking bribes to smuggle goods into Hong Kong'
A team of seven customs officials at the Sha Tau Kok border crossing between Hong Kong and Shenzhen have been charged with accepting bribes after being caught in a sting operation.
A team of seven customs officials at the Sha Tau Kok border crossing between Hong Kong and Shenzhen have been charged with accepting bribes after being caught in a sting operation, the Chinese newspaper New Express reports.
The officials allegedly worked as a group to help people avoid paying duty, with some receiving bribes of more than 40,000 yuan (about HK$50,000) every month in return for turning a blind eye to smugglers taking goods across the border in cars and minivans.
Authorities carried out the sting operation at the inspection office in January and detained the customs officials while a group of smugglers were allegedly in the middle of paying bribes to staff.
The raid led to four people being prosecuted for paying bribes totalling 380,000 yuan the report said.
Zheng Xiaowu, head of one of Sha Tau Kok’s customs inspection offices, allegedly arranged for his whole team to share in the bribes paid by people smuggling goods through the border crossing since May last year, New Express reported.
The deputy head of Zheng’s office told prosecutors that he had earned 30,000 yuan a month from bribes before Zheng set up the team, and about 42,900 yuan a month afterwards, the newspaper reported
A general clerk told the prosecutors he earned 5,000 yuan to 6,000 yuan a month before from bribes, and up to 30,000 yuan a month afterwards.
Minivan passengers were each charged 1,500 yuan every time they crossed the border, while passengers in cars were charged 1,200 yuan a time, prosecutors were told. The deputy head of the customs office would keep 300 yuan, while staff carrying out vehicle inspections would share 500 yuan, the newspaper reported.
Prosecutors were told that Wu Wenkui, the head of customs at Sha Tau Kok border crossing, was also implicated in the scheme.
He reportedly accepted a 40,000 yuan bribe from a shop owner in the Chung Ying Street, in Sha Tau Kok, so that customs inspectors would allow him to cross the border without problems, the newspaper reported.
The prosecutors were told that Zheng allegedly paid Wu a 210,000 yuan bribe in 2011 so that he could be promoted from his job as head of the general customs office to head of an inspection office, it reported.
Chung Ying Street, near to the border crossing, is known as an important area for the smuggling of goods from Hong Kong into mainland China. One side of the street belongs to Hong Kong, the other to Shenzhen; major crackdowns by officials are carried out each year, the newspaper reported.
Mainlanders often visit Chung Ying Street to buy cheaper Hong Kong goods, but while tourists can pass through customs with goods worth 3,000 yuan without paying duty, mainlanders are limited to goods totalling only 500 yuan.
Zheng divided his customs staff into three teams; he was in charge of making arrangements with smugglers, and his deputy with monitoring random spot checks, while a clerk carried out inspections and permitted vehicles carrying smuggled goods to cross the border, New Express reported.
