A SUSPECT was detained by Guangzhou railway police after he allegedly swindled his Shenzhen employer out of over 50,000 yuan (US$7,262), the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported yesterday.

    The suspect, surnamed Zhang, was hired by a tea oil company based in Shenzhen in November last year, as Zhang claimed that he was a marketing specialist and experienced in building distribution networks. The company’s head, surnamed Xu, employed Zhang as a sales executive and gave him a sample product worth 17,000 yuan to “do marketing.”

    A week later, Zhang told Xu that directors of several large supermarkets were satisfied with the company’s products and that they were willing to cooperate with the company. However, Zhang asked Xu to offer some kickbacks to those directors to “smooth relations” with them, so Xu gave him US$2,000 and four smartphones worth nearly 20,000 yuan.

    After Zhang got the money and smartphones, he started avoiding Xu’s calls and became totally unreachable in January this year. Xu realized that he had been fooled by Zhang and called the police.

    Zhang was detained by Guangzhou railway police recently at Zhongshan Railway Station after he disembarked from a Guangzhou-Zhuhai intercity train. The investigation of the case continues. (Zhang Yang)