Billions in Hidden Riches for Family of Chinese Leader

[Omaha Steve]

Source: NY Times

BEIJING — The mother of China’s prime minister was a schoolteacher in northern China. His father was ordered to tend pigs in one of Mao’s political campaigns. And during childhood, “my family was extremely poor,” the prime minister, Wen Jiabao, said in a speech last year.

But now 90, the prime minister’s mother, Yang Zhiyun, not only left poverty behind — she became outright rich, at least on paper, according to corporate and regulatory records. Just one investment in her name, in a large Chinese financial services company, had a value of $120 million five years ago, the records show.

The details of how Ms. Yang, a widow, accumulated such wealth are not known, or even if she was aware of the holdings in her name. But it happened after her son was elevated to China’s ruling elite, first in 1998 as vice prime minister and then five years later as prime minister.

Many relatives of Wen Jiabao, including his son, daughter, younger brother and brother-in-law, have become extraordinarily wealthy during his leadership, an investigation by The New York Times shows. A review of corporate and regulatory records indicates that the prime minister’s relatives, some of whom have a knack for aggressive deal-making, including his wife, have controlled assets worth at least $2.7 billion.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/26/business/global/family-of-wen-jiabao-holds-a-hidden-fortune-in-china.html?partner=EXCITE&ei=5043&_r=0

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Petar Kujundzic/Reuters

Many relatives of Mr. Wen became wealthy during his leadership

[Berlum]

1. So China has porculent Plutocrats (R) too? How sad for Planet Earth and the other human beings

Last edited Fri Oct 26, 2012, 06:49 AM - Edit history (2)

[xchrom]

2. Du rec. Nt

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. Bah, Commies. nt

[Shanti Mama]

4. And now the NYT is blocked in China!

Watch out!

[aquart]

5. Karl Marx never understood greed, poor sap.

[Javaman]

6. Chinese government, Mexican style. nt

[jsr]

7. NYT and BBC have been blocked because of this story

Just like Bloomberg earlier this year when they did a similar expose on the Chinese ruling elite.

[toby jo]

8. the fall soon to follow...

[dchill]

9. China should try democracy.

So should the USA.

[cprise]

10. I withdrew my Rec

Op-ed headline on same page: "How Castro Held the World Hostage"

Uhm, OK. I'm not seeing much more inclination toward truthfulness in their post-Iraq-war-cheerleader era.

To my knowledge, they haven't come clean on the deliberate Ahmadinejad misquotes; they insist we differentiate between "nuclear power" and "nuclear weapons" when it comes to the West, as they insist we never differentiate between "nuclear programs" in places like the Middle East.

Never trust a major Anglophone infotainment studio to accurately report on foreign affairs. The difference between neoliberal and neoconservative (like Fox) in this respect is the level of enthusiasm and pretentiousness.

I don't doubt the Jiabao family could be abusing their influence, but I'll take it as real news when I see ample corroboration from circles very different from the BBC and NY Times.

[Canuckistanian]

11. Whaat? China ISN'T an egalitarian state?

Imagine my surprise.

I dare you.

[daleo]

12. Maybe he banks at th same Cayman Island location as Romney. Nt