‘I was naive,’ says sex-video starlet

One of the three women who appeared in the Chongqing sex video scandals that resulted in the dismissal of 11 executives and officials including a district Party chief, said through her lawyers that she was deceived by her former boss.

Zhao Hongxia, 30, who is seen in video tapes having sex with Lei Zhengfu, former Party chief of Chongqing's Beibei district, and five other officials, was arrested on December 31 by the Chong-qing procuratorate and is currently in custody, confirmed her attorneys Zhang Zhiyong and Peng Yiping.

The Chongqing procuratorate declined to provide information on the case when reached by the Global Times Thursday.

A video of Zhao and Lei having sex in a hotel room that was posted online in November was the first in a series of sex scandals that unraveled the careers of six Party and government officials including Lei. Five executives of State-owned Enterpirses have also been sacked.

Local police have also arrested several men led by Xiao Ye, a local businessman, who secretly arranged for the sex videos to be shot with the intent to extort the officials and executives.

Lei has been investigated for corruption and his case will soon be transferred to judicial authorities and the investigation results will be made public, the Xin-hua News Agency reported Thursday.

Zhao's lawyer, Zhang, said his client had been hired by Xiao to work for a Chongqing branch of a Hong-Kong based clothing company Xiao managed in 2007. Two months later Zhao and Xiao began a relationship that lasted almost a year until she found out that he was having affairs with other female employees.

In early 2008, while they were still involved, Xiao showed Zhao a secret sex video that had been shot by other employees and asked her to seduce some "clients" and secretly tape their sexual encounters. She was told it would help "boost business" and was promised a commission. Zhao then sent prepared text messages to a list of contacts provided by Xiao and developed sexual relationships with several men, according to Xiao's instructions. "I was too na ve and trapped in the relationship," Zhao's lawyer said she told them, the Qilu Evening News reported.

The paper reported that on subsequent rendezvous, after a video had been made, Xiao arranged to have men enter the hotel room when Zhao was in bed with a man. It remains unclear how Xiao attempted to extort the men and many people believe he demanded business favors from the officials and executives.

Zhao's lawyer, Peng, told the Global Times Thursday that Zhao insists she thought the videos would be used only to increase sales of the clothing company and that she had received a 40,000 ($6432) yuan commission.

The lawyers said they have not yet decided on their defense strategy as they are waiting to examine all other evidence. They have filed a bail application but have not yet receive a reply.