Elderly man recognized for auditing corrupt officials   

老人自费反腐扳倒9名村干部：当时遗嘱都写好了

An elderly man recently received 30,000 yuan ($4,798) from the Lingbi county government in Anhui Province to cover expenses in his civilian-led corruption investigation that resulted in exposing 18 local officials.

Tang Zun, a 75-year-old Tangwei village resident, began collecting intelligence in 2003. He was so sure of their corruption that he paid for an audit of the village committee accounts out of pocket.

It took 140 days for a five-person team to complete the audit.

After a review by the county disciplinary watchdog, nine village officials returned 110,000 yuan in ill-gotten money, eight were expelled from the Party, and one was punished according to Party discipline.

However the investigation proved costly for Tang.

To recognize his hard work, in 2012 the local government decided to compensate Tang for the 43,741 yuan he spent during his investigation, adding that "we can't make the hero shed tears and suffer."

Tang has received so far received 30,000 yuan and agreed to wait for the rest of the payment.