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'Bribe' to CCTV reporter was a gift - Lawyer

By Xie Yu (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-10 08:08

The corruption charge against a CCTV reporter actually involves the gift of a car worth about 200,000 yuan ($28,500) given to her by her boyfriend, Zhou Ze, a lawyer for the journalist, said on Tuesday.

"The corruption charge is nothing but revenge," Zhou said.

"The so-called bribe is just a 200,000 yuan car given to her by her boyfriend, and the local procuratorate took advantage of this since Li Min, the reporter, had filed a report against the procuratorate previously."

In November, Li reported that the Xinghualing district procuratorate was abusing its power by prosecuting a businessman surnamed Wu.

Li was charged with accepting a bribe from Wu's younger brother by the district procuratorate on Thursday.

"As the brother is courting Li, it is normal for her to accept the present," Zhou said.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) confirmed Tuesday on its website that it has approved the detention.

However, Zhou said it was inappropriate for the SPP to approve the detention as the district procuratorate had a conflict of interest with the journalist.

"It (the Xinghualing district procuratorate) interfered in the work of a reporter, and we will sue it for threatening Li, and for illegal enforcement of the law," Zhou said.

Li was detained on Thursday evening by four plainclothes officers sent by the Xinhualing district procuratorate. They gained entry to her flat by claiming to check for a floor leak.

Zhan Jiang, a professor with the China Youth University for Political Sciences, said the officers should have worn their uniforms.

An official from the Xinghualing district procuratorate, who declined to give his name, told China Daily: "If they want to sue us, it is their right."

But he refused to comment on whether the procuratorate had the right to handle the case.

"I do not need to tell you that," he said.

Zhan said the incident raises a question in the current legal system.

"China does not have a press law. But the press is such a special industry, it has a supervisory power, but it lacks protection," Zhan said.

"Journalists need protection, especially when they disclose the seamier side of society, but they should not enjoy special rights.

"If Li has made a profit by using her power, then she should be punished," Zhan said.