Guo Meimei, at the center of a charity scandal, says she made a huge mistake.
Guo Meimei, the 23-year-old woman who landed the Red Cross in China in a credibilitycrisis, has been investigated for being deeply involved with illegal gambling and the sextrade, and for spreading rumors, Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday.
Guo was arrested on July 10 on suspicion of taking part in illegal World Cup soccergambling activities. She later confessed to police that she had nothing to do with the RedCross Society of China.
"None of my relatives and friends, including my ex-boyfriend, were staff members of theRCSC. I didn't know anyone from the Red Cross," Guo said. "I made a huge mistake togratify my vanity," she said during the investigation.
"I want to say sorry to the Red Cross, all of society and especially to all the people whocannot get aid from the Red Cross (because of my false claims)," she said.
According to Beijing police, Guo's wealth came from illegal gambling, commercialperformances including singing, and the sex trade.
In mid-2011, Guo claimed on social media she was a manager of an organization under thecharity, and openly flaunted her wealth and extravagance.
Her posts triggered concern over how donations are used by the country's State-runcharitable organizations and dealt a major blow to the RCSC, which has been struggling toregain trust since the scandal.
Donations to the society dropped by 23.68 percent in 2012, according to the China Charityand Donation Information Center
The society released a statement on Monday, saying that some institutions and people hadmade up rumors against it, and pledged to improve its transparency.
The statement said the society has 110 years of history and will continue to improve itsbrand-building capability, information sharing and management, and provide betterassistance to the public.
Tao Chuanjin, director of the Research Center of Philanthropy and Social Enterprise atBeijing Normal University, said it will be very hard for the society to rebuild its reputation.
"From the start, Guo's comments were not trustworthy, but still triggered the credibilitycrisis," Tao said. "It showed the public already had doubts about how the society works.
"The scandal helped us to reflect on how charity work is done in China. Instead of relyingon government institutions, people began to establish their own platforms and foundationsto operate in a different way. The public has more choices than before," Tao added.
Deng Guosheng, director of Tsinghua University's NGO Research Center, said thedevelopment of charity work needs more participation from the private sector and thepublic.
"In China ... we are more focused on major tragedies like earthquakes instead of poverty-stricken areas. We are more reliant on large donations from rich people instead of ordinarypeople. We are more limited to government-funded charity institutions instead of privateones.
"This is typical Chinese charity. Some of us choose to donate money because thegovernment sends a notice and asks us to do so."
Deng said more education is needed to tell people of the importance of charity and socialwork.
The government should set up more platforms for the public to take part in this and givemore credit for such work, Deng added.
