Provincial branches of the Red Cross Society of China have been found charging learner drivers a fee for non-existent "rescue training," in a further chapter in the charity organization's ongoing credibility crisis.
The Red Cross in Ganzhou, in east China's Jiangxi Province, was said to charge 90 yuan (US$14) for emergency rescue training from each person who signed up for driving lessons. However, training was never organized, according to the Shanghai Morning Post.
People only received a booklet on emergency rescue knowledge and a certificate issued by the Ganzhou Red Cross.
"Nobody notified me about any training," Liao Qingyun, a local resident, told the newspaper.
"The Red Cross doesn't have enough emergency rescue funds, so we need to charge trainees to help drive Red Cross's development," a Jiangxi Red Cross official surnamed Wang was quoted by the newspaper as saying. He said the practice was common across the country.
The organization's branch in southwest China's Chongqing City and the neighboring province of Yunnan were also found to have been charging 70 yuan and 85 yuan for each new driver.
The traffic police in Jiangxi Province have ordered driving schools to stop charging the rescue training fee.
The fee was a deal reached between the local Red Cross and driving schools, but the traffic police haven't received any of the money, the National Business Daily reported, citing police.
People who took driving courses in Ganzhou have been advised to take emergency rescue training organized by the Red Cross since 2008 by the Ganzhou traffic police, but the order is not compulsory, Wu Chong'an, deputy political commissar of Ganzhou traffic police, told the National Business Daily.
The Red Cross Society of China has been embroiled in a storm of criticism ever since 20-year-old Guo Meimei detailed her lavish lifestyle on her microblog, claiming to be general manager of "Red Cross Commerce."
On Thursday night, police in Beijing issued a statement saying their investigations had found that Guo, a native of Yiyang City in central China's Hunan Province, had no direct links with the Red Cross, Xinhua news agency reported.
The Red Cross has pledged to increase transparency in donations and expenditure amid the mounting public trust crisis, Xinhua said.
In a statement released after a two-day meeting in Beijing involving Red Cross officials from across the country, the charity said it would "humbly listen to public opinion, improve its sense of responsibility and strive to increase its credibility among the public." It said it would make public its accounts of money and materials received and those of its purchasing activities.
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The country's only national Red Cross society is fighting to hang on to the public's trust after a scandal erupted in which a 20-year-old woman, who claimed to have a link to the society, boasted online about her luxurious lifestyle and triggered concern that donated money was being misused. |