A staff member at a factory in East China's Jiangsu Province works on a photovoltaic product for export after resumed to work. Photo: cnsphoto

A private company in Kunshan, East China's Jiangsu Province, discovered more than 20 "ghost employees" when it was checking 180 workers' personal information and whereabouts before applying to the local public security department for permission to resume production as COVID-19 epidemic is fading away. 

While collecting the information for the permit, the company's human resources personnel found that they could not contact some 20 employees, and some people's phone numbers "did not exist." However, these workers are on the shift sheet and each month receive some 80,000 yuan ($11,300) in salaries and bonuses, China Central Television reported Sunday. 

After learning about the situation from the company, police speculated that it was a conspiracy to swindle money. 

After the investigation, police identified a suspect surnamed Xu, who has been in charge of employee registration since joining the company in 2013. Despite having a moderate income, Xu has been extravagant in her daily spending. 

Xu later confessed that she had been conspiring with a factory working shift chief surnamed Wang since 2017, and taken more than 1 million yuan so far. 

The police found more than 10 credit cards as evidence at Wang's home and recovered the stolen money. 

Global Times