A former official in Shanxi Province boldly faked his age 11 times to take advantage of an assessment system that favors younger employees, in order to secure personal benefits including a local government job and promotion opportunities.

The fraudster managed to cling to power for almost three decades and was only removed from his post in June following five years of campaigning by a villager, who revealed the misconduct via nearly 3,000 letters of complaints.

The real age of Xue Xinmin, the former director of the housing and urban-rural development bureau in Hejin, Shanxi, became a mystery as he used four different versions of date of birth, which ranged from 1960 to 1969.

Before 2002, the birth year on his residence registration booklet was 1963 but that was later changed to 1969, the Beijing-based Legal Weekly reported.

In an application form filed in 1982, Xue stated that he was born in 1963 and the year he started work was 1981. But three years later, his birth year changed to 1960 in another form, and the year he started working became 1978.

The changes enabled him to get past the working-age restrictions set by a government notice published in 1983, which stipulated that workers who had been employed before the end of 1979 in government offices, public institutions and some enterprises were qualified to be promoted to government employees.

But according to the Communist Party of China membership application he wrote in 1984, his year of birth was different, stating he had been born in 1963.

Letters ignored

Since 2007, Xue Nianyi, a 67-year-old farmer who also hailed from Xiwei village, the home of Xue Xinmin, has sent as many as 3,000 letters to the supervision departments in Hejin and Shanxi Province, accusing Xue Xinmin of corruption and fraud, but none of them received a reply from the government, he alleged.

"All the letters were just ignored by them. Initially there was no reply," the farmer told the Global Times.

He claimed that Xue Xinmin was born in 1967, and this was confirmed by Xue Xinmin himself in a report submitted to the supervision department in 2010.

"I changed the year of birth from 1967 to 1963 in my Party membership application and some other files because I was afraid my young age might cast me in an unfavorable light in terms of competitions," Xue Xinmin wrote to the officials in 2010, according to the Legal Weekly.

"I changed it into 1969 in 2002 because I was afraid the older age might affect my career," he added.

Lin Zhe, a professor with the Party School of the Central Committee of the CPC, told the Global Times that younger officials are preferred when it comes to promotions.

Aside from the faked ages, Xue Nianyi also said the official's bachelor degree was fake.

"He had barely finished primary school before he dropped out and started to learn to drive," he said.

A staff member from the college where Xue Xinmin claimed he had graduated said that anyone who had paid their tuition fees could be enrolled, and the college was not qualified to grant academic certificates, the Legal Weekly reported.

Prior to January 2010, Xue Nianyi said his letters had only received an indirect reply via a local government online notice published on August 2009, stating that investigations found the official had not committed any of the reported corruptions.

Twists and turns

It was not until January 14, 2010, when provincial discipline inspection officials were conducting an investigation, that Xue Nianyi finally saw a ray of hope.

A few months before that, Xue Xinmin, who was then secretary of the Party committee of Senglou town, was recommended as a candidate for the vice chairman position of the political advisory body in Hejin, according to Xue Nianyi, but the appointment was thwarted by the investigation.

Xue Xinmin received a serious warning as punishment on December 5, the People's Daily reported. Four other related people from the organization department and the public security bureau of Hejin  also received a warning as punishment, according to the newspaper.

But Xue Nianyi said the local government still had not revealed the exact names or positions of the four people.

"As far as I know, two of them have retired, so a warning does not affect them much," said Xue Nianyi. "They are just scapegoats."

To Xue Nianyi's surprise, just 14 months later, Xue Xinmin was appointed as the director of local housing and urban-rural development bureau.

"It is so ridiculous that an official could still be promoted after being found guilty of fraud and being punished," said Xue Nianyi.

Professor Lin said that government officials who had committed age-fraud were no longer qualified to be civil servants.

"If they are capable of faking their age, they might also fake their performance," said Lin.

Xue Xinmin, dubbed by the media as "cheat master" was removed from office on June 8.

Uneven match

Wang Zhenyu, a professor with the China University of Political Science and Law, said the punishment of the official, as a result of the farmer's 3,000 letters, symbolizes the power of public supervision over the government.

"Public supervision is so important for the improvement of our government, as history has proved self-supervision doesn't work all that well in some cases."

But Wang added that the contest had been an uneven one.

"The strengths of the two sides were worlds apart, since a villager has neither power nor enough institutional protection," said Wang.

Considering the long time it took before the official was removed from office, Wang said it is very likely that related institutions tacitly consented to the fraud.

"In that case, the farmer was not confronting just one single powerful man, but a group of powerful people," he said.

Continuing the campaign

"As an official who cheated the public, he should be subject to criminal sanctions. Dismissing him from office is just a way to keep him away from trouble for the time being," Wang said.

Xue Nianyi said the local discipline inspection commissions refused to show him the notice of Xue Xinmin's punishment when he asked for it. 

According to Wang, considering the material benefits he has obtained directly or indirectly through his fraud, he should also receive criminal and civil sanctions.

He added that the official should be expelled from the Party, and the related supervision institutions should also be punished for dereliction of duty.

Li Jianhua, a senior Party official in Hejin refused to comment when reached by the Global Times.