Chinese police chief fired over property scandal
A police chief who allegedly used a false identity to buy as many as 192 houses in cities in China's southern province of Guangdong has sparked outrage on social media amid a growing scandal over corrupt officials amassing fortunes on the inflated property market, CNN reported.
Zhao Haibin, a senior police official in Lufeng in the southern province of Guangdong, had been accused by a local businessman of using a fake ID on company documents to acquire the properties, the Guangzhou Daily reported.
"A police official openly had two IDs and used the other one to do business and cheat others. Why (does) nobody probe the case?" local businessman Huang Kunyi was quoted as saying on state-run China Daily.
Zhao acknowledged possessing double IDs - known as hukou in Chinese - but denied having 192 houses, Xinhua reported. He was reported in Chinese media as saying that he was managing the properties on behalf of his younger brother.
Authorities told Xinhua that Zhao -- who is also a local Communist Party official -- had had the fake ID revoked and that he had been dismissed from his post.
The case has drawn a sharp response on China's lively social media.