SHENZHEN’S procuratorate has approved the arrest of a retiree, surnamed Jin, from Shenzhen General Institute of Architectural Design and Research Co. who masterminded a scam to swindle two lots of public land from the city’s land department.

    The person who executed the scam, surnamed Tang, was arrested in June. With the help of Jin, Tang forged documents and official seals of Shenzhen Metro Group to get approval from the land department to use the two lots exceeding 18,000 square meters for certain periods of time, according to a report in Thursday’s Shenzhen Evening News.

    Tang rented out the lots to house parking facilities, repair factories and dump trucks, earning more than 1 million yuan (US$162,700). Tang shared the profits with Jin.

    With Jin’s guidance, Tang sent applications to the land department in the name of Shenzhen Metro, claiming the lots would be used to house heavy equipment in an ongoing Metro construction project.

    Jin retired from the institute in 2010 and has wide connections thanks to her work in construction. (Martin Li)