SHENZHEN: A Chinese court has summoned eight Shenzhen customs officers on accusation against them of taking hundreds of thousands of yuan in bribes from smugglers crossing the border over a five-year period.
It said the court referred to one company in Guangxi province, which reportedly paid officials bribes totalling 160,000 yuan (about HK$201,000), while another Shenzhen-based company had allegedly paid officials a total of 66,000 yuan.
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The men from Huanggang Customs’ logistics department 6 Li Guoqiang, the former logistics director, Li Wujun, current head of department, three vice-directors and three other officers – are accused of accepting bribes in return for allowing smugglers’ trucks to pass from Hong Kong into Shenzhen between 2008 and 2013, sources said.
Three of the accused, not identified in the newspaper report, pleaded guilty yesterday, while a fourth unnamed defendant denied the charges at Shenzhen people’s court of Futian district.
The other four defendants will give pleas at a later hearing once the trial involving the other men has been completed.
Huanggang Customs is in charge of controlling both Huanggang and Futian checkpoint crossings.
The newspaper reported that a number of businesses had allegedly bribed officials of department 6 – one of Huanggang Customs’ 15 different logistics departments – for a number of years.
Logistics department 6 was responsible for checking imported goods crossing the border each day between Shenzhen and Hong Kong.
Sources did not report the total bribe money allegedly received by the accused over the five years, or what products had been smuggled.
Sources said each truck that passed through customs would allegedly normally pay a bribe of 6,000 yuan if it was owned by a Guangdong company, and 10,000 yuan if it was owned by a company based outside the province.
The money was allegedly shared out, with the deputy chief of the department claiming between five and 12 per cent of the money, depending on whether he was on a day off, or on duty, the newspaper reported.
