"Chinese police raid offices of firm in dump site disaster", 22 December 2015

Chinese authorities raided the offices of a company managing the dump site where a killer landslide left 76 people missing, while government records showed the firm was not qualified to do the job…

Government records show that a company called Shenzhen Luwei Property Management won the right to manage the dump site…But a company official told Reuters the rights were sold to another firm, Shenzhen Yixianglong Investment Development, for 750,000 yuan ($115,766), before even winning the bid…However, Yixianglong's business description registered with the government does not include logistics management as one of its areas of operation. This was a pre-requirement to bid for managing the site, according to bid documents.

A contract document between Luwei and Yixianglong, obtained by Reuters, showed that Yixianglong agreed to assume responsibility in the event of an accident. Calls to Yixianglong went unanswered. Shenzhen police declined to comment. The Shenzhen government did not respond to a request for comment…

The government had warned the dump site, which was supposed to be temporary, was unsafe. In July, the Guangming New District City Management Bureau said on its website it had asked the management company to clarify who was in charge of designing the dump.