Fourteen Guangzhou district officials and a real estate developer have been accused of defrauding the state of around 160 million yuan by using fake deeds to sell about 3,000 hectares to the government, according to mainland media. Developer Liang Peikun , 52, and five colleagues are the only people to face court so far, but 11 of the 14 allegedly corrupt Zengcheng district officials have been detained, the Shanghai-based China Business News reported. The three others are on the run. According to the report, Liang rented the land from farmers for a low price and then allegedly presented 35 fake deeds as evidence that the district had authorised the land to be used for industrial development. Liang then allegedly used the documentation to inflate his compensation claim when the district government bought the land and the officials turned a blind eye. Requisitioned farmland is allowed to be granted to individual companies for industrial development and then sold to the government, which must pay a higher compensation rate for industrial blocks. An earlier report by the Guangzhou-based New Express Daily said Liang was tried, along with his five colleagues, in November in the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court. Procurators said Liang manufactured 21 fake deeds in 2003 for two real estate companies under his name, claiming that the government had granted them the rights to 1,952 hectares as early as 1994. He received 84 million yuan in compensation when the district bought back the land in 2004. Liang used the same method to gain 76 million yuan for 1,273 hectares in 2005.
