China Red Cross out to earn public trust after volunteer embezzles fund

The charity said it wanted to set up a committee with members of the public to help supervise the management and use of funds, English-language China Daily reported Friday. The aim was "to raise public trust and improve transparency," the report said, quoting a statement of the foundation. 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 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 the parents whose children were qualified for the fund and sent documents, 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, the report said. 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", Kazinform cites Xinhua. See www.chinaview.cn for full version.