A leading health firm in Guangdong's Gaozhou city whose president is married to a vice-mayor is being investigated for allegedly filing false receipts in an attempt to evade paying 113 million yuan in taxes.
The State Administration of Taxation started investigating Guangdong Shibabao Medical and Health Production in November, a representative of Gaozhou Mayor Li Shanglin told the South China Morning Post yesterday.
An anonymous complainant asked the National People's Congress to investigate the firm. The complainant alleged in a letter that the city government had shielded the company because its president and legal representative, Luo Zeqin, was the wife of Vice-Mayor Wu Fupei .
The complainant also alleged that Shibabao was originally required to pay 113 million yuan in outstanding taxes, but was allowed to pay only a third of that amount.
This contrasted with the harsh treatment given to other companies, the complainant said.
Several other companies investigated for tax evasion during the same period not only had to pay the full amount of taxes they owed - ranging from several hundred thousand to several million yuan - but their legal representatives were jailed for between four and 10 years, the complainant claimed.
Mayor Li's representative yesterday denied that Shibabao had received special treatment.
