Red Cross says it won't reinvestigate Guo case

The Red Cross Society of China's social supervision committee said it has decided not to reinvestigate a case related to a woman who called herself Guo Meimei.

Huang Weimin, secretary-general of the committee, told a news conference on June 14 that the committee believed that the previous investigation the society conducted on the case had already came to a clear conclusion, and it suggested that the society launch a new investigation if new evidence is found about the case.

In 2011, a woman who called herself Guo Meimei showed off her wealth, and claimed she was a manager of an organization under the society, igniting heated debate about the way the society manages itself.

The society investigated the case, and issued a report in December 2011 stating that the wealth Guo showed off had nothing to do with the society or the donations it receives.

In July 2012, the Chinese government asked the society to set up a social supervision committee to supervise its management of donations and charity.

In December 2012, the society chose 16 experts to set up the committee, which, according to the committee's regulations, is an independent organization and should investigate major events involving the society, and publicize reports of its investigations.

Jin Jinping, a member of the committee and assistant professor at Peking University's Law School, said that the regulations fail to vest in the committee the power to investigate, because the regulations currently do not specify that it has such power.

According to her, the society doesn't have a board of supervisors, and the committee is authorized by the executive committee under the society's council.

She said that she hoped the law can be revised to empower more parties to supervise the management of the society.

In addition, the committee depends on the society for the funding of its investigations, said Huang, the committee's secretary-general, although committee members emphasized they don't take money from the society for their work.

This has raised doubts about whether it can effectively supervise the society.

"I hope a special fund will be set up for our work (so it helps the committee become more independent)," said Yuan Yue, president of a consulting company, who is also a committee member. "What the committee members are best at is setting up a proper way to monitor the society's fiscal situation and assessing its projects, so that similar incidents won't occur."

As a result, members of the committee are trying to redesign a system to audit and assess the society.