Lenders still not paid after 16 years
By Li Qian |
May 21, 2012, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
AUTHORITIES in Yancheng in eastern China's Jiangsu Province who forcibly raised more than 100 million yuan from the city's residents to build a railway 16 years ago have still not paid the money back.
The Yancheng Transportation Bureau collected more than 112 million yuan (US$17.7 million) from government officials and enterprise employees either by unauthorized payroll deductions or by pressuring them into donating.
A high-ranking official was forced to pay 1,000 yuan while a normal worker's quota was 200 yuan, equal to two weeks' wages.
The authorities promised to pay back the money, plus interest, in 2008, three years after the Xinchang railway, linking Xinyi in Jiangsu and Changxing in Zhejiang, opened.
However, the "forced lenders" have received nothing to date, the Modern Express reported yesterday.
Li Dongfeng, now retired, worked as an accountant in a community factory in 1996.
He said he was asked to pay 200 yuan when commerce and industry administration officials came to examine the plant. "They told me the funds were to build a railway. I dared not to offend them because I was afraid the annual exam of the factory wouldn't pass," Li said.
After constant inquiries, the transportation bureau announced in February that it remained unsure when it could pay off the loans.
Wang Zheng, deputy director of Yancheng's railway administration, told the newspaper: "We haven't operated the railway as well as we thought and it is still hard for us to pay off the funds."
The Yancheng Transportation Bureau collected more than 112 million yuan (US$17.7 million) from government officials and enterprise employees either by unauthorized payroll deductions or by pressuring them into donating.
A high-ranking official was forced to pay 1,000 yuan while a normal worker's quota was 200 yuan, equal to two weeks' wages.
The authorities promised to pay back the money, plus interest, in 2008, three years after the Xinchang railway, linking Xinyi in Jiangsu and Changxing in Zhejiang, opened.
However, the "forced lenders" have received nothing to date, the Modern Express reported yesterday.
Li Dongfeng, now retired, worked as an accountant in a community factory in 1996.
He said he was asked to pay 200 yuan when commerce and industry administration officials came to examine the plant. "They told me the funds were to build a railway. I dared not to offend them because I was afraid the annual exam of the factory wouldn't pass," Li said.
After constant inquiries, the transportation bureau announced in February that it remained unsure when it could pay off the loans.
Wang Zheng, deputy director of Yancheng's railway administration, told the newspaper: "We haven't operated the railway as well as we thought and it is still hard for us to pay off the funds."
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