Page 11 - Aruba Today

WORLD NEWS A11
Friday 11 December 2015

Who’s investigating fake Chinese goods? Fake investigators

A vendor eats his meal near ABB branded products on sale internal corporate investi- tions from the AP. mediate People’s Court in
at Liushi China Electronic City, a market known for selling gations in China reviewed One of the world’s largest China’s Anhui province.
counterfeit electronic components, in the town of Liushi near by the AP, lawsuits, and consumer goods compa- Swiss power technology gi-
Wenzhou city in eastern China’s Zhejiang province. The vast interviews with 16 private nies hired an investigator ant ABB Asea Brown Boveri
marketplace is well-known for selling counterfeit electrical investigators, lawyers and to track down counterfeit found that one of the in-
components, many of them made on the outskirts of town. law-enforcement officials. anti-dandruff shampoo. vestigators it was paying
All described a broken sys- But instead of finding real to hunt counterfeiters was
(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) tem, beset by endemic counterfeiters, the investi- herself selling fake ABB cir-
and underreported fraud, gator, Wang Yunming, set cuit breakers. ABB sued
ERIKA KINETZ ucts and electrical com- made worse by Western up a factory to produce the firm she worked for,
Associated Press ponents. companies that have a counterfeit shampoo him- the China United Intellec-
SHANGHAI (AP) — Multi- The wrongdoing took poor command over how self, which he then “seized” tual Property Protection
national corporations do- many forms: to successfully fight fraud. and billed to the firm as a Center, which was one of
ing business in China face — Western firms paid inves- Shanghai’s Public Security successful raid, accord- China’s oldest and largest
a losing battle when it tigators who were them- Bureau took the unusual ing to two employees in- investigations companies.
comes to keeping copies selves manufacturing or step of warning foreign volved in the investigation ABB lost its case in Beijing,
of their products off the selling counterfeit versions brand owners to be watch- who spoke on condition of despite the fact that the
market: The anti-counter- of their clients’ own goods. ful of the investigators they anonymity for fear of losing investigator, a woman who
feiting industry they rely on — Investigators doctored hire. “We very much hope their jobs. called herself Flaming Lee,
is plagued with fraud, mak- documents, fabricating that brand owners will It wasn’t the first such fac- was convicted of selling
ing it that much easier for raids that never took place. pay attention and devote tory Wang founded. It was ABB counterfeits by a court
potentially dangerous fake — Investigators colluded more manpower and ma- the fourth. in Dubai, where she lived.
goods — from air bags to with factories to make terial resources to ensure Wang was convicted of ABB, a $40 billion company
Christmas lights — to reach counterfeit goods they that the fight against coun- fraud and is due to be re- whose products range from
consumers, an Associat- could “seize” and present terfeiting is healthy and or- leased from prison in 2023, simple switches to sophis-
ed Press investigation has to their Western bosses for derly,” the bureau said in according to a copy of a ticated industrial robotics,
found. payment. written response to ques- judgment from Hefei Inter- declined to comment.q
Most Western compa- As counterfeiting has flour-
nies subcontract anti- ished in China over de-
counterfeiting work to cades, a lucrative, parallel
private investigators paid industry has blossomed to
on commission. More sei- fight it. Counterfeiting to-
zures mean higher fees, day is a multibillion-dollar
creating powerful incen- business in China, which
tives to cheat in an indus- produces nearly nine of
try with little oversight. As a every 10 fake items seized
result, money spent fight- at U.S. borders.
ing counterfeiting often Chinese authorities have
doesn’t make things bet- been getting better at
ter, and sometimes makes fining counterfeiters and
them worse. sending them to jail. But
The AP found instances of the momentum of reform
investigative fraud involv- has yet to reach the front
ing products that could lines of the fight against
be hazardous: counterfeit fakes, according to previ-
auto parts, pharmaceuti- ously undisclosed mate-
cals, personal care prod- rial from legal cases and