Police officer arrested over alleged fundraising scam

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-02-11 16:46

HANGZHOU -- A police officer has been arrested over an alleged fundraising scam involving more than 15 million yuan (US$2.2 million) in east China's Zhejiang Province, the local police bureau said Wednesday.

Tao Xuejun, the former deputy director of the police bureau in the Lishui economic development zone, was arrested on January 13 when he was hiding in a residential building in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen, said the Lishui Municipal Public Security Bureau.

The 40-year-old policeman was found by the municipal bureau last November to have borrowed money from others, in violation of police regulations. He fled Lishui City on November 24 after disciplinary officials from the city bureau talked to him.

He allegedly borrowed more than 15 million yuan between September and November last year, by promising monthly interest rates of 2-8 percent. He deceived a total of 29 lenders that he was investing in mines or needed help to pay off bank loans, said Xu Zhoujian, a police officer in the municipal bureau who is in charge of Tao's case.

However, Tao allegedly used the money to cover stock losses and pay his own debts, according to Xu.

The Lishui municipal police bureau is investigating the scam.