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Doctor jailed over Diana charity fraud(Electronic Telegraph)
By Nigel Bunyan
A DOCTOR who tried to exploit the name of Diana, Princess of Wales to
increase the value of his home has been jailed for two years.
Ram Saxena, 60, decided that Errwood Road was too mundane an address
for his Forties semi in Burnage, Greater Manchester. He launched a campaign
to have it renamed Princess Diana Street and set up a bogus charity, the
Princess Diana Institute of Stress, which he claimed enjoyed royal patronage.
His scheme foundered when neighbours complained to the Princess Diana
Memorial Fund.
Saxena, whose home was worth £50,000, sent out dozens of leaflets on the
first anniversary of the Princess's death. He claimed to be the president of an
institute with an executive committee of 11 professors and five doctors
dedicated to the treatment of stress disorders. He appealed for donations or
covenants.
Saxena, a former prison doctor at Strangeways, Manchester, wrote: "We are
going to adopt a new charter based on the principles of Princess Diana.She
sacrificed her life for something we can be proud of. Her life should not be
allowed to go in vain. Names staring with 'Err' or 'Erred' are not very trendy.
Just changing the name of the road, house prices would go up as it would
become a focus point in Manchester."
Saxena was convicted at Preston Crown Court of fraudulent disposal of
property, making false statutory declarations, attempted deception, using a
false instrument and possessing an implement adapted for making a false
instrument.
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Chinese prince given life-saving
transplant(Electronic Telegraph)
By David Rennie in Beijing
A DESPERATELY ill princeling from China's former ruling dynasty has been
given a free kidney transplant by a state hospital after communist officials
appealed for help for the now impoverished imperial clan.
Aisin-Gioro Qiqi, 22, suffered kidney failure in January after catching a rare
virus and had been surviving with the help of expensive dialysis sessions that
have left his family almost bankrupt. His story sparked sympathy both inside
China and abroad after it was reported earlier this month in The Daily
Telegraph.
Doctors at the Beijing University Hospital have now supplied a kidney and
waived the £4,800 fee for surgery - the equivalent of five years' income for
Qiqi's family. His mother, Liu Xiujuan, said yesterday: "Qiqi had the operation
last Friday and everything is OK".
His father, Aisin-Gioro Hengkai, 56, works as a night watchman in Beijing
and also draws a pension as a former hospital cleaner, bringing his combined
income to £78 a month. He was born in a palace to a senior royal line but
spent most of his adult life in penury and persecution, including years in
"re-education" camps.
However, many ordinary Chinese now feel pity and curiosity rather than
hatred for their former imperial overlords, whose descendants suffered greatly
during the cruel decades of Maoist rule. The family's local Communist Party
committee last month launched a donation drive to save the life of Qiqi, whose
grandfather was adopted in a Soviet prison cell as the unofficial heir to his
uncle, the last emperor of China, Pu Yi.
In a sign of modern, relaxed attitudes to royalty, they called on local people to
"save the young life of Pu Yi's great grandson". Mrs Liu said: "We have
received £5,600 in total from friends, relatives and strangers, which has
helped us a lot."
But her son will still have to take hundreds of pounds worth of imported
Western medicine every month for years to come in order to stay alive. Mrs
Liu said: "We still have a money problem. But the main thing is that the
operation has taken place and Qiqi is recovering."