A Ministry of Railways official said to have worked for a number of other firms in addition to his ministry role has been named in a media report as Wu Jianzhong, the ministry's information and technology center director.

A report by the National Audit Office in June said that six bureau-level directors had part-time jobs at the ministry's subsidiaries without ministry approval while one of them was chairman of the board at 18 firms.

China's Civil Servants Law prescribes that any government servant is supposed to win approval from his or her department before doing any part-time work for any other corporations or institutions.

At least 14 firms connected to the SinoRail Information Engineering Group listed Wu as their legal representative while he is also the legal representative and board chairman of SinoRail, according to company registration information obtained by China Business News.

The Ministry of Railways became the largest shareholder of SinoRail after the center headed by Wu invested nearly 91.48 million yuan (US$14.2 million) in the Beijing firm in 2008, purchasing 76.2 percent of the company, according to the newspaper's investigation.

It is unclear how many projects SinoRail has gained from the ministry. The company's website says the firm offers consulting and design services for information systems installed on passenger railway lines.

SinoRail Hongyuan, SinoRail Hongxin and SinoRail Xinyun, three firms that are among the corporations Wu works for, have all worked on information projects on China's railways.

In media reports published in the wake of China's devastating bullet train crash on July 23, many former railway ministry officials are now employed by firms connected with the railway sector and earning more than in their previous work for the ministry.

Source:Shanghaidaily