By LUO GUAN

Corruption Correspondent

LUSHAN (China Daily Show) – The Red Cross has pledged to investigate, after a sum of money intended to line the pockets of the charity’s managers instead made its way into the hands of a needy child orphaned by the recent Sichuan earthquake.

Twelve-year-old Li Meng lost both parents in the April quake, and faces a perilous struggle ahead.

Weeping as he handled the small sum, believed to be around 800 yuan, Li said he was “so, so grateful” for the money but “mystified” as to how he had received it.

Red Cross Society executive vice president Zhao Baige said the funds may have been misdirected from a manager’s bank account, and admitted the scandal-riven society faces a long struggle ahead to reorganize its accounting.

“I will personally resign if we don’t receive enough funding to allow me to peacefully retire within the next few years,” Zhao vowed yesterday.

Zhao also urged the orphan to return some of the cash, saying, “Don’t be selfish, kid – spread a little of the love around.”

In a bid to combat the Red Cross’s battered reputation, Zhao has announced plans to completely rebrand China’s Red Cross as a cash-guzzling tool of charitable corruption, adding: “We can do this.”

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