Charity 'aided insurance sales'
By Cai Wenjun |
August 8, 2011, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A RED Cross initiative offering free health services in communities was also a platform for selling insurance, a China Central Television investigation has said.
Reporters visited a mobile service station in Beijing's Xibahexili Community, one of the earliest set up by the Red Cross Society of China's Business System.
Doctors at the station and residents told the program, aired on Saturday night, that it was also used by staff from China Life Insurance Co until last year when the insurance staff left due to poor business.
One elderly resident told reporters that insurance staff helped check blood pressure to win the trust of residents who went there for health consultation.
Officials from China Life's Beijing branch told CCTV it had signed cooperation agreements with Business System and Wangding Co.
"They are responsible for negotiating with the communities and installing the facilities, while we sent volunteers to serve at the stations, which were inside trailers," China Life official Lai Jingsi told CCTV. "Business System buys the trailers, while we pay the rent. The monthly rent for each trailer is 1,000 yuan (US$155) and we paid 1.2 million yuan as trailers were expected to be in 100 communities within a year."
He said China Life wanted to improve its image and promote its insurance products through the initiative as "serving at the stations can help gain residents' trust." However, China Life had decided to end its cooperation due to the slow progress of getting sufficient numbers of trailers into communities, Lai said.
Red Cross officials told CCTV that it would soon be announcing the results of its investigation into Business System, which has been at the center of a series of scandals after 20-year-old Guo Meimei flaunted her lavish lifestyle online and claimed to be general manager of "Red Cross Commerce."
Business System, a legal organization under the society which was established to help run charity projects, and Wangding Co, a consulting firm, were set up in 2001. Companies taking part in the service station initiative were required to set up a joint company with Wangding.
Wang Rupeng, secretary general of the Red Cross Society of China, said the service station initiative was designed by Business System and needed business cooperation due to a lack of financial investment.
He said the Red Cross was now studying the guidelines of its cooperation with enterprises with a view to making changes. "The Red Cross will be more open for public monitoring to win back public trust," he said.
Meanwhile, Larry Lang has denied claims he received 2 million yuan to invite Guo Meimei and her mother to clarify their relationship with the Red Cross on "Larry Lang Live" - a Chinese Business News television program.
He said online rumors he had been bribed were "a personal attack."
Reporters visited a mobile service station in Beijing's Xibahexili Community, one of the earliest set up by the Red Cross Society of China's Business System.
Doctors at the station and residents told the program, aired on Saturday night, that it was also used by staff from China Life Insurance Co until last year when the insurance staff left due to poor business.
One elderly resident told reporters that insurance staff helped check blood pressure to win the trust of residents who went there for health consultation.
Officials from China Life's Beijing branch told CCTV it had signed cooperation agreements with Business System and Wangding Co.
"They are responsible for negotiating with the communities and installing the facilities, while we sent volunteers to serve at the stations, which were inside trailers," China Life official Lai Jingsi told CCTV. "Business System buys the trailers, while we pay the rent. The monthly rent for each trailer is 1,000 yuan (US$155) and we paid 1.2 million yuan as trailers were expected to be in 100 communities within a year."
He said China Life wanted to improve its image and promote its insurance products through the initiative as "serving at the stations can help gain residents' trust." However, China Life had decided to end its cooperation due to the slow progress of getting sufficient numbers of trailers into communities, Lai said.
Red Cross officials told CCTV that it would soon be announcing the results of its investigation into Business System, which has been at the center of a series of scandals after 20-year-old Guo Meimei flaunted her lavish lifestyle online and claimed to be general manager of "Red Cross Commerce."
Business System, a legal organization under the society which was established to help run charity projects, and Wangding Co, a consulting firm, were set up in 2001. Companies taking part in the service station initiative were required to set up a joint company with Wangding.
Wang Rupeng, secretary general of the Red Cross Society of China, said the service station initiative was designed by Business System and needed business cooperation due to a lack of financial investment.
He said the Red Cross was now studying the guidelines of its cooperation with enterprises with a view to making changes. "The Red Cross will be more open for public monitoring to win back public trust," he said.
Meanwhile, Larry Lang has denied claims he received 2 million yuan to invite Guo Meimei and her mother to clarify their relationship with the Red Cross on "Larry Lang Live" - a Chinese Business News television program.
He said online rumors he had been bribed were "a personal attack."
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