A Party secretary in Henan Province is knocking down Internet allegations that he visited prostitutes and is involved in corruption after an Internet user posted photos of a naked middle-aged said to be him.
Du Mingqian, Party secretary of Wuzhi county, became a hot issue after posts on an online forum on tianya.cn and other websites described him as a corrupt official. The posts also included photographs of him engaged in sex games with prostitutes.
Local authorities are investigating the allegations.
The person who wrote the novel and posted the photos described himself as a "whistleblower" with more evidence of Du's corrupt activities. He said he began collecting evidence last year.
"Du used public funds to hire an Internet public relations company to delete posts with negative opinions of him and he sent people to watch my home after he found out I wrote the posts," the unidentified writer said.
He did not explain how he collected the evidence or learned about Du's behavior.
"The Internet posts are making something out of nothing," Du told Henan Legal Daily Monday.
"The upper-level Party organization department is investigating the case and I will resolve the problem through legal means," Du was quoted as saying.
Li Junming, a county spokesman, told the Global Times Tuesday that the Party committee of Jiaozuo, which has jurisdiction over Wuzhi, is looking into the allegations.
"Du's normal work schedule has not changed after the Internet posts began to spread, and we are waiting for the results of an official investigation to evaluate the situation," said Li.
"So far, no one can tell if the photos are authentic," Li said.
Some Internet users reacted angrily.
"This kind of official should be shot to death directly if he did everything mentioned in the post," said one user on tianya.cn.