Official held for financial scam

SHANGHAI: A former district official in Jiangsu province has been placed under police custody after being suspected of illegally collecting at least 250 million yuan ($36.5 million) from the public, local police said yesterday.

Pan Jianping, a former member of the National People's Congress standing committee of Beitan district in the city of Wuxi, was alleged to have pooled the money from company executives, government officials and financial institutions with promises of high returns.

Police did not say how Pan solicited the money or where the money went, but local newspaper Modern Express reported yesterday that the woman, aside from her government work, also owns four companies and has business deals with many iron and steel companies, which may have helped her gain the trust of lenders.