Cult founder, acolytes facing court on rape, fraud charges
Print Edition
The founder and leader of the “Huazang Zongmen” cult is facing criminal prosecution along with several other suspected cult members, following a yearlong investigation by police in south China’s Guangdong Province, prosecutors announced late on Wednesday.
The procuratorate of the coastal city of Zhuhai in Guangdong has charged Wu Zeheng with rape, fraud, the production and sale of harmful food, and organizing and using the cult to sabotage law enforcement.
Wu, who was born in 1967, was sentenced to serve a detention for fraud in 1991. In 2000, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison for illegal fundraising and unlawful business operations.
On release from prison in 2010, Wu began to promote “Huazang Zongmen” as a “lofty sect” of Buddhism and claimed to be the successor of several eminent monks. He is also accused of fabricating his educational background and experiences, claiming to hold a PhD from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom.
In actual fact, he dropped out of school during junior high, prosecutors said.
Over the years, Wu attracted a large number of people to join his cult, some of whom wanted to study Buddhism, while others sought treatment for disease or help warding off bad fortune, according to police involved in the investigation.
“When we arrested Wu last July, he was with a young woman in pajamas,” said a police officer, who also seized bottles of expensive liquor, cigarettes, watches, jewelry and cash from his apartment in Zhuhai.
Several female followers believed “practicing” with Wu in bed could help them “gain supernatural powers,” police said, adding that Wu has fathered at least 12 children.
Police claim Wu also set up websites and opened social media accounts to lure followers and swindle them.
“Newcomers usually gave Wu premium cigarettes, liquors and tea as presents. But he hinted that he preferred cash,” said an alleged follower, surnamed Yuan.
Wu is alleged to have said that his paintings possessed the “holy power” to ward off misfortune. He sold three of them for between 100,000 (US$16,107) and 500,000 yuan apiece to his followers, police said.
Wu is also alleged to have asked his followers to raise millions of yuan and to have opened an “imperial restaurant” in Shenzhen, Guangdong, where he claimed that the dishes on the menu, each of which was priced between 2,000 yuan and 6,000 yuan, contained secret ingredients.
The police investigation found the ingredients were mostly ordinary, apart from some banned herbs, yet Wu is said to have made 6.9 million yuan from the venture.
“Huazang Zongmen” is not an officially registered organization, and Wu is not a registered monk, police said.
In 1991, Shi Suxi, the former abbot of Shaolin Temple, denied any links between the monastery and Wu, who claimed to be a disciple of a Shaolin monk. The incumbent abbot Shi Yongxin also denied any links to Wu.
Shi Mingsheng, vice president of the Buddhist Association of China, said “Huazang Zongmen” conforms to the Buddhism “by no means” and is purely “a disguised cult.”
Despite the police findings, following lobbying from Wu’s followers, 17 lawmakers from the United States jointly sent a message to the Chinese ambassador to the US, demanding an end to his “persecution.”
Wu also accused the police who raided his operation of “cracking down on charity.”
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