A former postal bureau director in south China will soon face prosecution after she allegedly defrauded a total of 1.79 billion yuan (US$238 million) from 352 depositors to fulfill her mounting gambling debts.

He Liqiong, the former director of the branch of the Post Office Bureau of Lanshi Town in the city of Foushan, Guangdong Province, will stand to prosecutions after she allegedly used fake bankbooks to take the money from depositors' accounts, the Shanghai Morning Post reported today.

The post office in China offers many services similar to banks as well as traditional postal services.

She will also be indicted for allegedly hiring someone to stab another government official, the report said.

He, who was arrested on August 8 last year, allegedly officered higher interest rates to any depositor who introduced new deposit clients to her post office, the report said.

The new clients could only withdraw money by making a personal appointment with her, the report said. That allowed her to give them fake bankbooks and siphon off their cash, according to prosecutors.

She would transfer the money that new clients tried to deposit to her own account to pay off huge gambling debts she ran up in Macao, according to the report.

In early August last year, a deputy director of the Tax Bureau in Lanshi was stabbed by a stranger after he had made several calls telling his friends they should withdraw their savings from He's post office immediately as he had heard rumors something fishy was going on. The report didn't say how badly he was injured.

He Liqiong is charged with setting up that stabbing.

(Shanghai Daily November 13, 2007)