Red Cross out to earn people's trust

By Wang Jingqiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-05 13:43

The Chinese Red Cross Foundation (CRCF) is looking for ways to improve the transparency of its money-managing after a volunteer was charged with embezzling 300,000 yuan ($43,906).

The charity says it wants to set up a committee with members of the public to help supervise the management and use of its funds.

The aim is "to raise public trust and improve transparency", said a statement on the foundation's website.

Red Cross out to earn people's trust
Chinese Red Cross Foundation workers receive a donation in Beijing. [File photo/China Daily]

Wang Rupeng, secretary-general of CRCF, said the organization started the project at the start of the year to correct deficits in its "self-discipline" but he admitted the recent high-profile "Ma Shujun case", accelerated the formation of the committee.

Ma, a former volunteer with CRCF, was accused of embezzling more than 300,000 yuan ($43,906) from the Angel Fund, a CRCF program that helps children who have leukemia.

Beijing police arrested Ma last month.

According to an announcement on the CRCF website, Ma gained the trust of patients' parents by helping them and acting on their behalf to apply for CRCF funds.

Ma allegedly got ID numbers and bank account numbers of parents whose children were qualified for the fund and sent materials, including some false medical receipts and the bank account information, to CRCF. CRCF then deposited money into the account and Ma passed on a portion to the families.

What made Ma's story more extraordinary was the fact that he had been a legitimate beneficiary of the CRCF.

Ma earned a hero medal for bravery as a soldier during the 1998 floods that swept southern China.

He then lived a simple life until 2005 when his 3-year old son was diagnosed with leukemia. The money needed to seek a cure was 400,000 yuan ($58,535).

After selling his house for 17,000 yuan and begging for money on street corners in Tianjin, his story was reported widely in the media and generated a good deal of sympathy. CRCF, through the Angel Fund, worked with China Central Television to raise 337,000 yuan for his child's treatment.

Secretary-General Wang described the story of the alleged embezzlement as being like "the farmer and the serpent", and said it "has had a bad influence on people's trust on CRCF and the angel fund".

"But it is more important to solve and improve when problems are found," he said.

"I'm very candid about this case. I admit our supervision and operation systems had deficits. But we assume the right attitude, when we see deficits, is to try to correct and improve."