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SCMP Reporter

Village chief dead, struck by motorbike and car

A senior cadre in the home town of Mao Zedong  is being investigated for a hit-and-run death.

Liu Yahui , who heads the party discipline unit in Shaoshan , Hunan province , allegedly played a part in the death of Tang Yunkui ,  chief of Shishan village, last Saturday.

Quoting information provided by local police, Xinhua said Tang was first hit by a motorbike as he was walking on the side of the road. He was then run over by a VW Santana  driven by Liu.

Both vehicles left the scene of the accident.

Police have detained both the driver and passenger of the motorbike - identified by their family names Zhao and Wen - and traced the car to the Shaoshan Communist Party Discipline Inspection Committee, which is headed by Mr Liu.

The incident has caused an uproar in Shaoshan, where residents see it as another example of party and government leaders abusing their power to escape punishment by the law.

A forensic investigation found that Tang, who sustained serious injuries from being hit by the motorbike, might have passed out after the collision. It also said these injuries could have killed him but the injury caused by the car was 'absolutely fatal'.

However, the investigation could not conclude with certainty whether Tang was killed by the motorbike or the car.

Quoting the police investigation, Xinhua  said Mr Liu's car stopped about 10 metres from where it ran over Tang. Mr Liu, his wife and an employee of a local engineering company walked back and asked the crowd surrounding Tang: 'What's happened?'

'The three then turned back and drove away,' Xinhua said. 'They drove the car to a car wash about 2km from the scene of the accident and had the car washed.'

The Xinhua report said Mr Liu had admitted to police that he was the driver but that he could not see the road clearly at the time of the accident because he was blinded by the lights of cars coming from the opposite direction.

He claimed he did not see Tang's body and felt only a bump when his car rolled over him.

'Although it cannot yet be determined who should be held responsible, Liu Yahui did leave the scene of the accident,' Xinhua said.

'And when this fact was made public [in Shaoshan], it caused great indignation in the local community.'

A similar case occurred in October last year when a farmer's wife was struck and killed by a BMW driven by the wife of a wealthy businessman in Harbin , Heilongjiang province .

Rumours initially linked the businessman's family to Han Guizhi , then chairwoman of the Heilongjiang People's Political Consultative Conference.

Although this was later found to be untrue, the exposure led to a full investigation of  Han, who has since been arrested for corruption and will face trial soon.



Hunan party official is probed in hit-and-run