The ex-manager of Silk Street has sent letters accusing the marketï‚'s president of 200 million yuan tax evasion to members of the Standing Committee of Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Having sent the letters via express mail service on the afternoon of July 23, Wang Zili the next morning went to the Economic Crime Investigation Department, Ministry of Public Security, to report the alleged crime in person.

Based on the suggestions of the officials who received him, he prepared 15 letters specifically focused on the tax evasion issue and sent them to relevant government departments such as the State Administration of Taxation on July 26.

Wang stated in the letters that since the market moved to the new complex in March 2005, Zhang Yongping had falsified the number of laid-off workers he employed to the administrations of taxation. In recognition of employing laid-off workers as 30 percent of its total workforce, Silk Street from August 2005 received three years of business tax relief, according to a letter of notification from the Beijing Chaoyang Local Taxation Bureau.

But Wang claimed the real number of laid-off workers was only 10 of more than 120 employees.

Zhang had registered a total 30 - including 10 laid-off workers - as employees of Beijing Silk Street Company, classifying 90 other market staff as working for a separate real estate development company.

"He cheated taxation officials by seeking loopholes in taxation policy and fabricating a financial statement," Wang said.

By paying over 1,000 yuan to a laid-off worker every month, he managed to evade 200 million yuan of tax in 2005-08.ï‚"

As Silk Street gained international popularity, the annual rental income from its 1,500 stalls totaled 300 million yuan and has kept rising in the last five years.

A 4-square-meter stand at a good location on the ground floor costs as much as 30,000-35,000 yuan a year now, plus a deposit of 100,000 yuan and a non-reimbursable entrance fee of 50,000 yuan, according to Wang.

Hit by the financial crisis, Silk Street vendors have lately fallen on harder times and felt growing pressure. They all teamed up in March to ask Zhang to cut the rent, even threatening to strike. Zhang compromised, returning three monthsï‚' rent, but he allegedly soon raised the rent again by a substantial margin when vendors came to renew their five-year contract. Thus the total rent for 2010 reached about 400 million yuan, Wang said.

After Wang' s letters were reported by the Chinese mainland media, Beijing Silk Street Company held an urgent meeting with major local papers in Beijing on the evening of August 4.

Yu Tanzhen, the company' s legal counselor, told the press the so-called "200 million yuan tax evasion" was nothing but an unfounded rumor. He presented separate notifications on three-year tax relief approved by both Beijing Chaoyang Local Taxation Bureau and State Taxation Bureau and receipts of business tax payment from Huaxia Bank after July 2008.

The company also posted an open statement on the Silk Street website stating that Wang was removed from his post in July after not fulfilling a series of tasks designated for him by the board of directors and alleging he was incompetent to continue as general manager.

The statement said laid-off workers accounted for 30 percent of total employees. It did not give any details in terms of exact numbers.

As the accused president Zhang Yongping was in the US, Global Times called legal adviser Yu, who declined to give more information outside of the original statement.

"Let the government investigate and decide right and wrong," he said.

A Beijing taxation bureau official told the Global Times she could not comment as the case is now under investigation.

Wang fled Beijing with his wife and child on the evening of July 24, the day he reported Silk Street to the government in person. He reportedly feared for his life, claiming Zhang was not only rich but connected to organized crime.

"My friends told me Zhang said he would have me 'beaten up' or 'got rid of' because I' m  a "hidden effect," Wang said.

So I had to report him to the government to protect myself.ï‚"