Reporter exposes China lottery corruption

A Xinhua News Agency reporter wrote a letter to China’s Ministry of Finance claiming that state-owned lottery enterprise, China Lottery Online Co, is engaged in illegal activities, according to the Global Times.

Wang Wenzhi, a reporter for the Economic Information Daily newspaper which is part of Xinhua, told the ministry that the company's general manager He Wen "controls the system, sales data and funds of the lottery, which severely violates regulations." 

Funds from the company have been secretly transferred to He, "who has amassed 2 billion yuan ($322 million) by abusing his authority," the letter, which was made public, added. 

"Lottery data and technical skills should be separately managed to prevent fraud, but his company played both roles for 12 years," the letter said.

Wang said that he first published the story in May, but had not openly published the latest information for fear of reprisals.

In June, China uncovered widespread misappropriation of 16.9 billion yuan ($2.72 billion) of funds from its state lottery program, underscoring the extent of official corruption as the country tries to root out graft.

Funds were misappropriated through the buying and building of office buildings and hotels, or embezzled, the National Audit Office said in a report on its website.

 

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