7 highway officials charged with allowing arbitrary fines

Seven highway administration officials in Henan province were charged with malfeasance related to arbitrary traffic penalties by prosecutors after a local female trailer owner took poison to avoid heavy overloading fines, Henan-based Dahe Daily reported Tuesday.?

Another 17 local transport officials were demoted, removed from office or received administrative warnings.

On Nov 14, 2013, on a highway in Yongcheng city, trailer owner Liu Wenli, after having an argument with road officials who penalized her for overloading her vehicle, took poison in a suicide attempt. She recovered and was discharged from the hospital on Dec 1.

Liu was fined despite providing local government certificates allowing her truck's excessive load. She threatened to take poison, but road officials didn't stop her. They left after she drank the fluid and her limbs began shaking. Her brother, Liu Huaizhou, also in the trailer, sent her to the hospital, said CCTV-2's program Half-Hour Economy Watchdog on Nov 14.

Liu Huaizhou said he and his sister started using the trailer for their construction material-transit business in April 2013, and received more than 200,000 yuan ($33,020) in traffic fines since,?the CCTV program reported.

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Highway management must be transparent