From Nation, page 14, issue no. 367, May 12, 2008
Translated by Ren Yujie
Original article: [Chinese]

Two senior health officials at a Guangdong disease control center were being investigated by the party's disciplinary organ, according to local media. Sources close to the center have told the EO that they strongly suspected the events are linked with a bribery case that exploded there two years ago.

Luo Yaoxing, who oversaw immunity planning at the Guangdong Center for Disease Control and Prevention, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2006 for accepting bribes from vaccine dealers, which netted him up to 11.18 million yuan.

However, Luo's direct supervisors, Zheng Feng and Luo Xiongcai, the ex-director and deputy director of the Center, were left unscathed by the case.

Before Guangdong's Yancheng Evening News reported the story, Zheng and Luo Xiongcai were still heading the Center, and regarded as experts in the research of food sanitation and parasites. They were publicly hailed as "anti-SARS" heroes in 2003.

So far, the Center has not made any public statements regarding their detention.

One staffer at the Guangdong Center told the EO that on May 6 a warning was circulated by the acting leadership: "We just finished a meeting. Regarding the events at the center, all staff must be of one voice. Haphazard discussion with outside parties is strictly forbidden. If a journalist wants to report on the issue, they must go through the main office."

A staffer at Shenzhen's Center told the EO that they had also been warned to keep silent on the subject.

Zheng Feng and Luo Xiongcai: Low-key but Dominant
According to public data, Zheng Feng, 58 years old, was an expert in food sanitation who has served at the Center since 2002. Luo Xiongcai was a deputy director and an expert of filariasis. They had previously been awarded first and second-class merits respectively by the Guangdong provincial committee and government for their work during SARS.

One source close to Zheng and Luo who wished to remain anonymous said that both were dominant but low-key figures who seldom accepted media interviews. Even when Luo Yaoxing's bribery case broke out, they remained silent.

The Center was founded in 2000, after which a flurry of national investment in disease control and prevention led the it to be awash in funds.

A former staffer there revealed that workers there could earn more than others because the vaccine institute was able to make money by charging promotion fees from businesses through vaccine purchasing. This was an open secret inside the Center.

Behind the Luo Yaoxing Bribery Case
Luo Yaoxing, the director of vaccine institute in GDCDC, was sentenced to life imprisonment for accepting bribes along vaccine purchases in September, 2006.

According to Luo Yaoxing's statements, there were ten people involved in the bribery case, including seven officials inside Disease Control industry. Among the six major vaccine producers in China, four were involved.

The public wondered how only Luo Yaoming was arrested despite the fact that ten people participated the bribery. China Youth Daily also published a article on August 21, 2006, which said the director of the work unit should be the first stakeholder if such grave case happened.