BEIJING - ZHANG Ziyi's manager has taken the blame for a donation funds scandal that has been dogging the actress.
Ms Ji Lingling said Zhang has on Monday paid 160,000 yuan (S$33,275) to the Chinese Red Cross Foundation following online allegations that Zhang never remitted fully the 1 million yuan she pledged in 2008 after the Sichuan earthquake.
Zhang had made the promise last year at the Cannes Film Festival to the victims, but a blogger last month said she had donated only 840,000 yuan, citing information from the foundation. According to NetEase, Ms Ji said in a statement that she and Zhang were not in China when their colleagues in Beijing released two amounts to the foundation.
After the online allegations came out, they checked with the foundation and discovered the shortfall. 'I now realise that stars who do charity work need to be careful and supervise strictly,' Ms Ji wrote. 'This is serious negligence by me in management. I am sorry.'
Read the full story in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times, Life!.
