NOW THAT ANTI-CORRUPTION agents are investigating shady land deals involving the Shenzhen Government, an American-born Chinese businessman says he hopes their probe might finally see crooked officials brought to book.
Paul Lee Hua-shing, a Hong Kong resident, has been fighting a legal battle against the Shenzhen Land Administration Bureau and a developer for the past two years, claiming they effectively stole the land his family had acquired to build a college for overseas Chinese.
He said his case not only highlighted the corruption and absence of the rule of law in the mainland boom town, but should warn foreign investors about the risks of doing business there.
Such claims have been given added weight by the current corruption crackdown in Shenzhen, which has seen officials targeted at the Land Administration Bureau, the government agency he accuses of ripping him off.
Shenzhen People's Congress vice-chairman Wang Ju, who oversaw the bureau, is among those being investigated along with its vice-director Pang Zehong, and another senior official in the bureau, planning department director Cai Jianhui. Many believe this is the start of a wider anti-corruption probe that will target other bureau officials.
Mr Lee does not know whether the bureau officials who handled his case, or the shadowy former official from the mayor's office whom he said was also involved, have been caught as part of this anti-corruption crackdown. But he said it demonstrated that his is only one of many corruption cases in Shenzhen.