According an exclusive report by Hong Kong’s Ming Pao on May 7, a few days before the fourth anniversary of Wenchuan Earthquake, Shehong County cheated the central government out of more than 100 million yuan ($16,000,000) of reconstruction funds by overstating the destruction caused by the earthquake.

Representatives of more than 1,000 villagers visited government agencies at higher levels to report the corruption over 20 times in 3 years but were frequently condemned and persecuted. Some of them have even been sent to prison. The government has only detained a village-level cadre for the irregularities but turned blind eyes to all those involved at higher levels.

Shehong County suffered only slight damages in the earthquake in 2008. For example, no house collapsed in Mingxing Town, but villagers showed a copy of the document of the town’s civil affairs department that states 192 houses collapsed. Dayu Town, another town in the…