===================================================================== From: xshao@ucdavis.edu Date: Wed Oct 31 2001 - 11:05:35 PST Subject: Statement on the CSSF account Hi, All, As requested by the current ccsf committee, I am posting the cssf bank statements of the past two years. For details, please go to: http://www.ucdchinese.org/documents/index.html. As I stated before, I agreed to lend money from ccsf account to a UCD student. Details as follows: on 3/2/2000, $4500 was transfered to her account. $4500 was returned to cssf account on 10/6/2000. $5500 transferd to her account on 10/19/2000, total $700 was returned on 12/21 and 1/17/2001. $4780 returned to cssf account on 6/18/2001. $4500 moved to her account on 6/25, $300 back to cssf account on 9/10, $4700 back to cssf account on 10/12/2001. She had returned all the money she borrowed upon 10/12/2001. She also agreed to pay back the interests that the bank should have paid to cssf account and the fees due to the money moving. As I said in previous memo regarding the affair, I apologize for this. It was my own decision, not related to other cssf committee members of 1999-2001. I take the responsibility to ask back the losing for cssf account. I apologize again, and ask for forgiveness. President of CSSF committee of 2000-2001, Shao xingguo. ===================================================================== From: Zhong Pan (panz@yahoo.com) Date: Wed Oct 31 2001 - 14:26:03 PST Subject: Statement of CSSF committee To members of the Chinese Students and Schloars Fellowship, As the committee of year 2001-2002 of the Fellowship, we here present a special report on the CSSF bank account. On 09/25/01, as the current CSSF committee and the previous committee were conducting the transfer of the CSSF bank account at Union Bank of California, it was found that there was only a balance of $23.22 on the account. According to the CSSF accounting book, the balance on the CSSF account should be about $4700 at the time. Upon finding the abnormality of the CSSF bank account, the current committee began its investigation. During the investigation, Xingguo Shao, president of the previous CSSF committee, admitted that he moved about $5000 out of the CSSF account for his personal use. Shao claimed to assume full responsibility for the misusage of CSSF funds. On 10/12/01, Shao deposited $4700 into the CSSF bank account. Along with $300 he returned to the account at an earlier time, Shao claimed to have returned all the funds he moved out of the CSSF bank account. The current committee has been engaged in investigation on this issue ever since we found the irregularities. In the mean time, this committee communicated with Shao many times, in a effort to clarify the fact. Shao stated that he had discarded all the CSSF bank statements sent to him, hence the current committee had to re-order the statements from the bank, which delayed the investigation significantly. Due to the complicated nature of this matter, it took this committee more than a month before we can release such an announcement. During the ivestigation, after our repeated efforts, Shao agreed to write a letter to publicly explain the fact of misusing CSSF funds and apologize for the misusage. This committee noticed that Shao posted a letter on the CSSF mailing list regarding this issue. We also noticed the wording of Shao's statement. Initial investigation by this committee has shown that, Shao moved funds out of the CSSF account for several times. During a period of more than one year, when Shao was first the treasurer of the 1999- 2000 committee and then president of the 2000-2001 committee, for most of the time, the CSSF bank account balance had been below $1000. According to the CSSF accounting book, the balance of the CSSF account for that period of time should be above or close to $5000. Transactions due to Shao's misusage of CSSF funds also incurred extra financial fees charged by the bank, which caused extra loss to the CSSF bank account. Exact amount of that loss is still under investigation. Shao has not yet made any compensation for the financial fees. This committee is still conducting investigation on the misusage of CSSF funds. We condemn any misconduct that is against the interest of CSSF and all its members. We reserve the right to seek legal resolutions to wrongdoings. In the mean time, this committee will pursue amendments of the CSSF constitution and the establishment of bylaws, to prevent incidents of this kind from happening again. This committee also appeals for the community to keep calm and use good senses, in order to obtain a proper solution for the problem we are facing. The CSSF Committee of Year 2001-2002 PS. We noticed that Shao, Xingguo posted another email to CSSF mail with explanation and bank statements. We welcome this as an active step. PS. Please see bank statements at http://www.ucdchinese.org/documents/index.html ===================================================================== From: Zhong Pan (panz@yahoo.com) Date: Wed Oct 31 2001 - 14:28:34 PST Subject: Chinese version of the Statement of CSSF committee 致中国学生学者联谊会所有会员： 作为2001-2002年联谊会委员会，我们特向各位通报联谊会账目的有关事宜 （下文中以CSSF代表中国学生学者联谊会）。 9月25日，上届CSSF委员会有关人员与本届委员会相应人员交接CSSF的银行 账目（CSSF的开户银行为UNION BANK OF CALIFORNIA），发现CSSF的银行 户头只有余额$23.22。按照CSSF账簿，账面余额应为大约$4700。本届委员 会随即对此进行调查，在调查中前CSSF主席邵兴国承认自己动用了CSSF资 金中大约$5000。邵本人声称对此事负全部责任。 10月12日，邵向CSSF银行账户存入$4700，加上此前邵退回该账户的$300， 邵声称已将挪用的资金完全退回。 从发现账目异常至今，本届CSSF委员会一直在对此事进行调查，并尽力与 邵联络，试图查清事实真相。邵声称过去的银行账单已全部丢弃，所以本 届委员会必须重新向开户银行索取银行账单，因而延缓了调查的进展。由 于事件本身的复杂性，本届委员会在发现该事件一个月之后才得以向全体 会员作此通报。 在调查过程中，经我们多次努力，邵同意向CSSF发出公开信，说明挪用资 金事实，并公开致歉。本届委员会注意到邵已于10月27日在CSSF的电子公 告栏发表了一封关于这一事件公开信。本届委员会对该信中的措辞持保留 态度。 本届委员会初步调查发现，邵曾多次挪用CSSF资金。在邵担任CSSF主席， 以及他担任1999-2000年度CSSF委员会司库（会计），总计一年多的时间 中，大部分时间CSSF银行账户余额不足$1000。根据CSSF账簿，这段时间 的账面余额高于或接近$5000。另外，邵挪用资金引发的银行手续费，给 CSSF的银行账户造成了额外的损失，确切数额正在核实中，邵尚未对此 做出补偿。 本届委员会对此事件的调查仍在进行中。本届委员谴责任何损害CSSF利益 的行为，并保留对此类行为诉诸法律的权利。同时，本届委员将致力于完 善制度，以杜绝此类事件的再次发生。 最后，本届委员会呼吁全体会员保持冷静，以利于这一事件的妥善解决。 中国学生学者联谊会2001-2002年委员会 附: 我们注意到绍兴国刚在CSSF邮件列表上发布了一封公开信，对该事件 提供了进一步说明，并公布了银行帐单。我们对这个进展表示欢迎。 附：银行账单请见 http://www.ucdchinese.org/documents/index.html CSSF Committee for 2001-2002 ===================================================================== From: Zhong Pan (panz@yahoo.com) Date: Wed Nov 07 2001 - 00:10:51 PST Subject: Statement of CSSF Committee Dear CSSF members: Members of this committee learned about the "$7000" before we knew the financial situation of CSSF and came to a consensus not to use that fund, due to its sensitive nature, while this committee only took over $4723.22 from the previous committee (as of 10/12/01, when the previous CSSF president Shao, Xingguo returned $4700). By saying the $7000, we generally refer to the fund generated by donation in the year 1989. To the best of our knowledge, CSSF did not have a seperate bank account for the $7000 before. According to the CSSF bank accounts, balance on the account first fell short of $7000 in Feburary of 2000, from $7191 to $4955. The monthly balance of the CSSF account has never reached $7000 since then. This committee has learned that that more than $1500 from the CSSF account was spent on the trip to Yosemite last year organized by CSSF and used for purchasing clothes for CSSF soccer team. There is no CSSF document about the legal nature of the $7000. In 1998, ther was a discussion on the $7000 and Wang, Guangyi, then CSSF president, asked the CSSF members to vote on how to handle the $7000, but no bylaws or regulations were produceed in a written form from that discussion. In an effort to find out the nature of the $7000 in terms of law, we have retrieved the local newspaper Davis Enterprise from April to June of 1989, contacted people who were living or studying in UC Davis at that time. Unfortunately, we could not find any thread about the donation happened in 1989. We hope people can provide information about this donation. We understand those people's feeling who don't want the money to be used for any non-original purpose. We also understand some people's goodwill who would like to use the money to benefit CSSF community. In order to convince people the money can or cannot be used for CSSF activities, the nature of the "$7000" funding has to be clarified. We are still investigating this matter. We will try our best to keep all our members and friends updated. P.S. The constitution of CSSF: http://www.ucdchinese.org/constitution.html CSSF Account Statements From Aug 1999 to Sept 2001: http://www.ucdchinese.org/documents/index.html CSSF Committee of Year 2001-2002 ===================================================================== From: Hongxin Wang (hongxin@mh1.lbl.gov) Date: Thu Nov 01 2001 - 10:00:56 PST Dear Reader, I just noticed a terrible scandal occurred. As stated by the current CSSF committee, CSSF should seek legal resolutions to wrongdoings if no reasonable explanation is given by Mr. Shao. In the mean time, the committee should pursue amendments of the CSSF constitution to prevent incidents of this kind from happening again. It is also necessary to post major money transition (from the records of both CSSF book and bank statement) on web every two (or one) months. Also there should be a rule about which position is responsible for the account holding (accountant, say treasurer) and which (must be a different) position is responsible for the authorization and supervision (say, chairperson). Once position change hand, even if that person is still in the new committee, account must be changed over to a new holder's name and address. I would like to see those be included in the new CSSF constitution. I do not mean we should not trust our official, but trust must be based on a solid and checkable foundation, not just a trust. A good rule will encourage people to serve the community better, to earn higher trust and appreciation, and to avoid scandal as well. As Jimmy pointed out, the CSSF committee and community have the rights to know the details about this misusage of the fund. The statements which Mr. Shao gave (up to now) are not very explanatory. It might be not necessary for everybody to know this "she" is, but Mr. Shao needs at least to explain to the CSSF committee the details and purpose of this (~$5000) fund use. If the committee agree with the explanation, they can issue a statement to clear him, with details (the name of "she" can be avoid). Otherwise I do not see any chance people will believe Mr. Shao. To tell the truth, a lot of people do not believe "she" is a local person in UCD. Maybe we are wrong, but wire transfer is usually to out of country or out of state. Although CSSF suppose to serve only UCD students and scholars, but at this moment, whether "she" is a UCD student is not the key point. The Key point is whether the money is used for "necessary" (at least some persons think necessary) purpose. If this money is used for business, personal gain, or potential gain, with the loss (such as fee charge) or potential loss (such as wrong investment....) for the CSSF, no matter the gain is for Mr. Shao, for "her" or for anybody related, it is not acceptable. Of course, giving no reason and explanation is equal to having no reasons and explanation. I agree that the community should keep calm and use good senses, in order to obtain a proper solution for the problem we are facing. As far as limiting the subscription only to ucdavis.edu email addresses, I would like to suggest no because all other CSSF email lists are open to basically everybody who enlisted. There are some people who related to UCD families and people who work off site but belong to UCD. Regards, Hongxin ===================================================================== From: Beilie Peng (bpeng@ucdavis.edu) Date: Thu Nov 01 2001 - 12:53:56 PST Subject: An outsider's thoughts and suggestions Hi Everyone, I have to say that I'm really SHOCKED seeing this news about misusage of CSSF money. Like a few people who did speak up, I just can't keep my silence anymore. I'm not a registered member of CSSF, but since many of my friends belong to CSSF, I know that everyone liked this organization, it's great!! The parties and sporting events are fun, people are nice and thanks to the e-mail list, I bought a bookshelf that I've wanted to have! BUT what's going on with the misusuage of funding by one person is really nothing great. Oh, Mr. Shao, you know what, you'd better come up with an award-winning, heart-tearing excuse to justify your behavior OR the generous help you offered to that mysterious student who needed that much money! Otherwise, Mr. Shao, I'll have yell SHAME ON YOU!!!!! I took a look at those bank statements posted online, still felt shocking. For almost a year and half, there were that many transactions of large sum of money going on (using wire transfer instead of direct deposit or cutting a check!!)in the account and no one else suspected anything different. All the monthly statements went to Shao's address and looks like he had full authorization to manage funds whether he was just a treasurer of 1999-2000 or the president of 2000-2001. As an outsider, my feeling is that there must be some flaws with the way CSSF is structured in terms of money management, so that all the transactions of thousands of dollars could be single-handedly done by one person. Of course, I'm just an outsider and I don't know the details of the full investigation, so whatever I'm saying could be misjudged. BUT still, everyone (CSSF members, at least) deserves to know what exactly is going on behind the closed doors, ok? I suggest that for all the activities that involve coming and going of money, maybe some of kind of financial statement should be posted online, either a pre-event budget planning list or a post-event budget statement, so everyone can see how much money is or will be used for each item of each event or activity. Then, as a way to justify all the postings, bank statement should be made avaliable to the public too. Sounds like an extremely tedious thing to do, but it's probably the best way to make things clear in the future. Also, in terms account management, more than one person's authorization or signature should be required for making checks or doing direct, electronic tranfering of fund, especially for large sum of money. I don't know if Mr. Shao's behavior constitues any legal charge, of course, it's up to CSSF to decide how far this matter will be carried out. Even if there's no enough cause to put any legal action on Mr. Shao, it's still very clear whatever he did is not ethical at all. Don't mean to be offensive or anything, I hope this "She" is a real "she" who needed money for a legitimate reason(medical emergency, family crisis, etc). IF by any chance, this "She" turns out be an E-trade or any form of personal investment account, then more than anything, it's just plain sadness that yet here's another example showing how corrupt and ugly, not all but definitely some Chinese officials can be! As for current committe, I know you guys are doing a great job on investigation already, but please please please don't let this thing slide as time goes by. Keep up with the good work! Best luck to CSSF. Beilie A 4th year undergraduate student.