When the municipal authorities of a southern Chinese city carried out an investigation into the local vehicle administration agency, they found that over 40 driving testers were involved in rampant bribery.
Liang Zhixiong, director of Vehicle Administration in the city of Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province, was given a 10-year prison sentence, Yangcheng Evening News reported on April 5.
Bribery of driving coaches and examiners became so commonplace that it had evolved into an unspoken rule, the report says. Earlier, in 2012, an anti-graft regulator had already received reports from urban residents saying that they had to give red envelopes containing cash to instructional staff.
The investigation by Zhanjiang authorities found that prospective drivers had given up 2.1 million yuan ($343,000) in bribes, 220,000 yuan of which was received by Liang personally.
