Top Biz News

Private eyes accused of illegal practice

By Zhang Yan (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-14 07:55

Four private detectives from Liaoning province, accused of illegally operating a business by Chaoyang district procuratorate, will stand trial in Chaoyang district court next week.

The four suspects - Li Tao, Han Zhi, Sun Guanghai and Wang Yong - registered their private detective agency as a business consultation company in Chaoyang district in February last year. In August, they allegedly sold stolen information to a man surnamed Zhang for 200,000 yuan.

Wang Wei, the prosecutor from Chaoyang Procuratorate, told METRO yesterday that because the four suspects operated the business for profit, this was illegal.

"If the amount of money involved is more than 50,000 yuan, the Procuratorate will charge them with illegal operation and they will face sentences of three to seven years," Wang said.

Hong Daode, a law professor from the China University of Political Science and Law, echoed the remark by saying that according to Chinese law, all private detective companies are unlicensed in China.

"Some suspects just register them as business consultations to get profit," Hong said.

"They stand on the edge of the law. The Industrial and Commercial departments should strictly administrate the approval procedures, and the banking system should enhance its supervision of personal bank information protection," he said.

There are dozens of private detective companies in downtown Beijing, registered as business consultation companies.

Yesterday, a call by an undercover METRO reporter obtained specific information from a private detective company.

The manager of one such consultation company, surnamed Fang, told METRO yesterday they manage a wide range of services; from getting information on marriages, property, bank accounts, and family members, to gathering business and intelligence information from companies.

Fang said they provide private detective services to several clients. For its other investigations, they need just one week to give feedback.

"You can be completely assured about the authenticity of our information, because we can get relevant information from the bank and civil affairs departments," Fang said.

He added that for marriage information, they will check the legal marriage procedures from the civil affairs department and then send detectives to track and photo the target. They charge 5,000 yuan for the service.

Zhao Fang, a press officer from the city's public police bureau, told METRO yesterday that no laws are broken until these private detective companies use illegal means to gather information.