Scandal of murdered whistle-blower forces Chinese city officials to promise action over 2003 killing
- Authorities in Hunan say they will target all those who prevented the death 16 years ago from being properly investigated at the time
- Victim’s body was found under a school playground after he threatened to expose corruption in the construction project
The discovery of the body of a murdered whistle-blower in central China has forced the local authorities to act after claims police failed to investigate the victim’s disappearance 16 years ago.
Police in Huaihua, Hunan province, confirmed on Sunday that the body found buried under the playground at Xinhuang No 1 Middle School on Thursday was that of Deng Shiping, who went missing in January 2003, state news agency Xinhua reported.
Deng’s case made national headlines because of reports that police had failed to investigate the case at the time despite the pleas of his family, prompting claims the suspects had benefited from their connections to powerful and influential figures in the city.
According to a report in People’s Daily, days after his disappearance, Deng’s family told police they suspected that the 53-year-old had been killed and buried under the playground by Du Shaoping, who had been given a contract to build the playground.
Deng, a project supervisor, had refused to sign off the project, saying the proposed works were substandard.
He was last seen in the company of Du, whose uncle, Huang Binsong, was the school’s principal and is accused of awarding him the contract without a bidding process and paid him 1.4 million yuan (US$204,000 in today’s exchange rate) for the work despite only having a budget of 800,000 yuan for the project.