bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Phoebe Zhang

Police in central China’s Henan province have arrested more than 230 people suspected of involvement in a massive rural banking scandal.
“The criminal gang, headed by Lu Yi, illegally took control of four rural banks, including Yuzhou Xinminsheng Village Bank, and are suspected of committing a series of severe crimes,” the public security bureau in the city of Xuchang said on Monday.
The gang lured depositors with unusually high annual interest rates of 13-18 per cent, police said, without offering details.
Police said 234 people were arrested and work to recover the lost funds was under way.


The arrests are the latest in a huge financial scandal that has left thousands of depositors across the country without access to tens of billions of yuan in frozen funds, igniting months-long protests.
In one case in June, authorities in the provincial capital of Zhengzhou tried to quell protests by assigning a red health code to the depositors.
Red codes designate people who have been to areas with reported cases of Covid-19 and prevent them from travelling, checking into hotels and entering any public buildings.
Demonstrators who defied the red code to protest were beaten by thugs, taken away by local police and sent home.
Five officials and civil servants in Zhengzhou were later fired or punished for abusing the health code system.


Faced with growing discontent, authorities began to repay depositors from mid-July, starting with those who had less than 50,000 yuan (US$7,227) at the institutions. The government incrementally rolled out repayments for those with higher deposits.
Some depositors previously told the Post that it took repeated attempts to withdraw their money.
Those with higher savings said they were still waiting, and were growing increasingly sceptical about the Henan government.
One woman with 1.11 million yuan (US$161,000) in the banks said on Monday that according to the Henan banking regulator, those with more than 500,000 yuan in deposits would be paid 500,000 yuan, with the rest meted out depending on the outcome of investigations and fund recovery efforts.
The woman said she had two deposits at the bank – one amounting to 510,000 yuan and another 600,000 yuan. She said she had not started the application process because she worried that she would only receive at most 1 million yuan.
Furthermore, she said she had lost confidence in the Henan government after all of its excuses in the past three months.
“Even if they retrieve 10 billion yuan, what if they just told us that they only retrieved 1 billion yuan?” she said.


Why South Korea has become a favourite destination for Chinese tourists this Lunar New Year holiday

China’s box office presales fall over 60% from last year in crucial Lunar New Year window

Social media’s ‘becoming Chinese’ trend can only be a force for good

‘Only a 0.1% chance’: elderly Chinese look for love at Shenzhen’s matchmaking corner

China society

Hundreds more arrested in China’s rural banking scandal

Protesters demonstrate outside the banking regulator in Zhengzhou in May in a banking crisis that continues to unfold. Photo: Weibo

Henan bank crisis savers must ‘wait patiently’ for compensation amid systemic risk, social instability concerns

Accounts at Yuzhou Xinminsheng Village Bank, Shangcai Huimin County Bank, Zhecheng Huanghuai Community Bank and New Oriental Country Bank of Kaifeng in Henan province and Guzhen Xinhuaihe Village Bank in the Anhui province have been frozen since April 18. Photo: Weibo

Accounts at Yuzhou Xinminsheng Village Bank, Shangcai Huimin County Bank, Zhecheng Huanghuai Community Bank and New Oriental Country Bank of Kaifeng in Henan province and Guzhen Xinhuaihe Village Bank in the Anhui province have been frozen since April 18. Photo: Reuters

China extends compensation for Henan banking crisis victims to 250,000 yuan, 2 more officials probed

Savers with deposits of up to 250,000 yuan (US$37,000) at four rural banks in Henan province and one in Anhui will recieve compensation from Monday. Photo: Shutterstock

Savers with deposits of up to 250,000 yuan (US$37,000) at four rural banks in Henan province and one in Anhui will recieve compensation from Monday. Photo: Handout

China’s Henan bank scandal not just a financial crisis, it may be a lasting political calamity: analysts

On Sunday, July 10, demonstrators hold up signs protesting against the freezing of deposits by some rural-based banks, outside a People’s Bank of China building in Zhengzhou, Henan province. The text in the foreground reads, “Henan Bank, return to us our legal deposits! The people’s life-saving deposits!” Photo: Reuters

News

China

Politics


Police in Xuchang say criminal gang seduced depositors with very high interest rates of at least 13 per cent
Suspects accused of involvement in a snowballing crisis that has sparked protests



Police in Xuchang say criminal gang seduced depositors with very high interest rates of at least 13 per cent.


Hundreds more arrested in China’s rural banking scandal

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Police in Xuchang say criminal gang seduced depositors with very high interest rates of at least 13 per cent Suspects accused of involvement in a snowballing crisis that has sparked protests

Police in Xuchang say criminal gang seduced depositors with very high interest rates of at least 13 per cent

Suspects accused of involvement in a snowballing crisis that has sparked protests