A people's congress official in Hunan Province lambasted the police in Guizhou Province for trying to arrest two local congress deputies by following a flawed arrest procedure. 

Yi Chunyang, director with the Standing Committee of Loudi People's Congress, was quoted by the China Business Journal as saying that police from Liupanshui, Guizhou, only used a copy of an official document to apply for approval to arrest these two deputies.

"This shows that they lack respect for the two people's congresses where the two deputies sit, infringing on citizens' personal rights and the law," Yi said.

The two Hunan deputies wanted by Guizhou police are Wang Tengyun, a deputy to the people's congress of Lianyuan, and his son Wang Lexian, a deputy to the Loudi body.

Both Lianyuan and Loudi people's congresses have denied the applications for the arrests, with the Lianyuan body rejecting the request on April 19, six days after the visit by Guizhou police.

Wang Tengyun, chairman of the privately owned Hunan Lianyuan Tengyun Coalmine Company, was reported by his business partner, He Dongliang, to police in Liupanshui for contract fraud. His son was also accused of being involved in the fraud.

He alleged Wang had extorted 39.28 million yuan ($6.4 million) from the  contract signed in 2008 in which Wang would sell six coal mines in Guizhou to He. An investigation started in 2009.

In China, arresting a deputy to the people's congress first requires the approval of the body.

Police submitted their first arrest applications in 2009, saying that the two men had forged coal mine materials and were involved in serious contract fraud. These requests were turned down over a lack of legal evidence.

"The congresses should cooperate with the police. If they have different opinions, they could give suggestions, but have no rights to deny the police's conclusion," Wang Zhenyu, a lawyer with Beijing Impact Law Firm told the Global Times. "Otherwise, they will be accused of shielding the men."

Local police in Liupanshui declined to comment, and Yi could not be reached as of late Monday.