For officials, the colour of money is too often grey

The pocketing of 'grey' income has become a de-facto form of bribe-taking in China.

It happens at all levels of government, and it's often hard to identify as it is sometimes masked as 'overtime pay' or 'bonuses'.

That appears to be the case in a recent incident in Guangzhou that has officials fuming and even speaking to the media, albeit without using their real names, about how they felt slighted that they were asked to return the hefty sums paid to them.

Civil servants who had received money under the guise of overtime pay and bonuses during the past two years were recently asked to return the money, as Beijing's anti-graft watchdogs paid a visit to the southern city and examined pay records.

An angry officer with the Guangzhou Public Security Bureau who refused to be identified said the notice to return the money came on May 16, and it ordered that the money be repaid in cash to a designated bank account by May 23.

'I need to return 50,000 yuan (HK$60,500) and it can't be deducted from my pay cheque,' the officer said. The 50,000 yuan was given to the officer and others as overtime pay for working during the Asian Games in December.

Further explaining why they are so angry, the officer said this was the second time bonuses had been ordered returned. 'On April 28, I was told to return 38,000 yuan by May 4th. This was our bonus given out in December 2009,' he said. 'I'd already spent all of the 50,000 yuan during Lunar New Year. Where am I going to find extra money to cover this? I think I would be better off robbing a bank.'