Shanghai cops respond to new allegations by Fan Bingbing tax whistleblower

Alleged misconduct toward a whistleblower by Shanghai police officers in the Fan Bingbing tax evasion case will be investigated, police announced Wednesday.

“A report was received accusing police officers from a Weibo account under the name of ‘Xiaocui Dushu Hui’,” Shanghai Municipality Public Security Bureau stated via its official social media account.

We have launched an investigation and contacted Cui Yongyuan, owner of the account, several times, but he has not responded yet,” read the statement.

The police would continue to try to contact Cui, a former talk show host, and hope he cooperates, the statement ended.

Shanghai police have never contacted him, Cui responded via his official account on Jinri Toutiao on Wednesday.

“You police have interrogated my former assistants and investigated almost every company that ever cooperated with me,” Cui posted, noting “how come you could not reach me?”

It was in May that Cui first broke the news online of Fan’s alleged tax evasion.

On October 3, the State Administration of Taxation ordered Fan to pay more than 800 million yuan ($116 million) in taxes and fines.

Then on Sunday Cui alleged some Shanghai policemen, seemingly implicated in the tax dodging, had interviewed him.

“Two policemen didn’t show their badge to me during an interrogation and pretended to be tax staff,” he posted.

“They kept asking me how I got hold of the evidence of the tax evasion case, intentionally disregarding the new evidence I offered that day.”

Fan, one of China’s highest-paid actors, has appeared in both Chinese and western films, including the multimillion dollar X-Men franchise.