Netizens further probing into the operation of the Red Cross Society of China's Business System has prompted senior officials with the organization, which is under fire for alleged malpractice in charitable work, to issue an urgent statement yesterday, clarifying its operations.

During the ongoing trust crisis of the Red Cross Society triggered by Guo Meimei, a 20-year-old woman who has recently hit the headlines for boasting online about her luxurious lifestyle and claiming she works for the Red Cross Society of China, netizens cast doubt over the operation of the charity organization, suspecting misuse of donations and possible corruption.

Although Guo later confessed she had falsified her Red Cross Commerce title and the organization denied the existence of Red Cross Commerce, it did admit the operation of Red Cross Society of China's Business System, a legal organization under the society which was established in 2001 to help run charity projects. The society denied any relation between Guo and the business system.

But some netizens are questioning the society over Wangding Co, a consulting firm with only 100,000 yuan as registered capital, which had been involved in almost all the events held by the organization.

They found that the company's legal representative and shareholder, Wang Shumin, was also vice president of the business system, and the company's vice general manager, Li Qingyi, was deputy secretary general of the system.

Netizens are asking whether the business system was making money by raising donations and organizing charity works through "its own company."

Li responded in a statement published by news website Caing.com that Wang established the consulting company in 2001 to financially support the business system, which according to previous media reports didn't receive any funding from the Red Cross Society. Li wrote in the statement that as the system was facing critical problems of a lack of staff and funds, Wang established the consulting company in Beijing, aiming to solve the problems. He named the company Wangding after his pen name, Li said.

"The company was established to explore a new pattern for the sustainable development of charity work," said the statement. It said neither the charity system nor the company had any connection with Guo.

In response to netizens' doubts about whether the company worked with Red Cross for profits, Li said that after the cooperation started, the company actually suffered economic losses year by year due to devoting itself to charity work.

On Caing.com, there were calls for Li to publish all the income of the company and the business system as evidence to prove that the two bodies were not working together to make profits.

Now Beijing police have started an investigation into the case of Guo and China National Radio reported that Beijing police had required Guo to come to Beijing to face questioning.

Zi Xiangdong, spokesman for Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, confirmed the investigation on Thursday but refused to give more details.