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Credulous local officials fete imposter 'higher-up'
By Ni Tao |
March 20, 2013, Wednesday
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IN Gogol's play "The Inspector General" (1832), a penniless dandy thought to be the czar's envoy is feted, bribed and fawned on by every dignitary in a remote Russian township expecting the arrival of an envoy. He is eventually found out to be a fake.
Gogol's theatrical humor may have inspired a Chinese con artist, who pulled off the same feat of deceiving groveling officials with a series of weighty titles.
The man, known as Zhao Xiyong, claimed to be a senior researcher with the State Council, China's cabinet. Since 2010, he visited a dozen places in southwestern Yunnan Province on a "study tour" and wherever he went, he was treated as a guest of honor, accorded the highest pomp and even hired as an advisesr. Nobody ever raised suspicion about his identity.
It was only when the very research institute in question called local authorities to say they had no employee named Zhao Xiyong did his generous hosts found to their shock, and great embarrassment, that for the past two years they had been fooled by an impostor.
In many ways, Zhao is a shrewd con artist. His familiarity with government affairs enabled him to lecture local cadres on the "new orientations of government"; and his audacity to pose as a central government official - a big con - eclipsed that of many of his fellow fraudsters. His brazen display may even have overcome initial doubt about this identity, if there was any.
But shrewdness of the con is no excuse for fraud victims to plead or foolishly try to cover up their lapse in duly checking the identity of their guests.
After the State Council learned of this fraud, and media probes followed, Zhao's victims all said the hoax cost nothing to government coffers and taxpayers.
It's plain nonsense, as anyone can tell. Where did the money that was spent on Zhao come from? How about the government cars that ferried him around?
It's bad enough for many cadres to be seen as credulous and fawning in the presence of officials, but it's worse if they try to mask their mortification.
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