SINGAPORE: A well-known children’s charity in China has been blacklisted and suspended for three months following reports that a former volunteer had swindled beneficiaries of nearly 10 million yuan (US$1.37 million).
Possible prosecution is also in line for the former volunteer of the China Charities Aid Foundation for Children as well as a senior official at the organisation, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs stated on Tuesday (Jun 11) as it revealed more details about the case.
The ministry said it had set up an investigation team after reports from the media and the public regarding “problems” involving the charity.
Established in 2010 and based in Beijing, the China Charities Aid Foundation for Children is one of the country’s most well-known charities for children, with public records showing more than 150 projects under its belt, according to a South China Morning Post report.
In its statement, the civil affairs ministry said a man, surnamed Ke, had previously received aid from the charity as a beneficiary’s parent. He then began volunteering in the charity’s 9958 Rescue Centre programme in November 2022.
One of the charity’s biggest projects, 9958 Rescue Centre arranges emergency aid for critically ill children. In 2022, it raised a total of 220 million yuan and helped more than 10,000 children, SCMP reported.
From June to August 2023, Ke, on the pretext of raising funds for the programme, swindled nearly 10 million yuan from the parents of the beneficiaries, according to the ministry.
Ke had enticed parents of children with acute illnesses to donate to an emergency relief fund, according to a report last year by Chinese news outlet Caixin. In return, Ke promised they would receive financial support through donation matching and investment returns.
According to Caixin, Ke’s association with the charity was enough to persuade parents to donate. However, when parents needed money for their children’s treatments, Ke had disappeared with the funds. He was arrested in Hebei Province in September 2023 for suspected fraud.
Around that time, the charity released a statement claiming that Ke had only served as a volunteer rather than an employee, and that the money he raised had never reached the foundation’s account, Caixin reported.
“Ke’s case has exposed problems in the charity’s internal management and the operations of the 9958 project,” the ministry noted in its Tuesday statement, adding that the case has since been handed over to judicial authorities.
Further investigations showed that the charity carried out activities “outside of regulation” and failed to disclose information according to the law, said the ministry.
The charity’s deputy secretary and the person in charge of the 9958 Rescue Centre project, surnamed Wang, has also been investigated and his case is likewise with the judicial authorities.
The charity’s operations have been suspended for three months and it has also been included in a blacklist of “dishonest organisations”. The ministry did not specify when the moves took effect.
The ministry added that during the suspension period, a task force will make sure the rights and interests of the children currently receiving assistance from the charity are protected. It will also ensure the charity makes “comprehensive and thorough” changes.
The China Charities Aid Foundation for Children previously courted controversy in 2020. SCMP reported that the charity had raised 1 million yuan for a young woman who was hospitalised due to malnutrition, but only 20,000 yuan was transferred to the hospital before she died.
Source link : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/china-charity-children-donation-fraud-million-dollar-blacklist-suspended-donation-fraud-4407721
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Publish date : 2024-06-13 06:20:53
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