HEFEI - While sky-high house prices are making home ownership a distant dream for many ordinary Chinese, some officials are taking advantage of the government's housing plans to seize dozens of apartments.

The latest scandal involves a former village head accused of the misallocation of 136 resettlement houses which were intended to be compensation for local farmers whose houses had been demolished by the government to make way for construction.

Investigation by the disciplinary authority of Hefei city confirmed a week ago that Fang Guangyun, the former Communist Party chief of Zhanbei Community in the city's Xinzhan district, had illegally taken 11 resettlement houses for his family.

Wang Kecui was among the 300 people who should be relocated in Fang's village. She said more than 500 people had been considered for placement in the resettlement houses and she was curious as to where the other 200 came from.

Some villagers claimed that the distribution of 136 of the total 380 housing units involved government malpractice.

Before the demolition, more than 180 migrants suddenly moved to the village and many of them later got resettlement houses, according to the critics.

Villager He Pei said, "It is ridiculous that some houses were even given out under the names of three elderly people in the village who had been dead for years."

He said his own houses were not been demolished yet, but his name was used by someone else to acquire resettlement properties. He was worried that he would have no chance to get any apartment after his houses are demolished in the future.

Hefei's disciplinary authority concluded that Fang had colluded with the local demolition department, policemen and accountants to form a fraud network to forge registrations, financial accounts and manipulate other procedures needed to acquire the resettlement houses.

Fang was also accused of being involved in selling farmers' land in violation of rules and regulations.

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