The Panama Files have revealed that several top level Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials, including retired officials, have had their family members set up offshore companies.
Recently, four Hong Kong media, after receiving documents from ICIJ (the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists) regarding the related Panama Files, conducted investigations of those relatives of top officials and found several of them had Hong Kong residence status. These four media are Mingpao, South China Morning Post, Next Magazine, and Hong Kong 01.
The related officials are:
Liu Yunshan (刘云山), current Politburo Standing Committee member: Liu’s daughter-in-law Jia Liqing (贾立青) is the shareholder and board member of an offshore company. She obtained her Hong Kong residence card in 2001.
Zhang Gaoli (张高丽), current Politburo Standing Committee member: Zhang’s son-in-law Li Shenpo (李圣泼) is a shareholder in three offshore companies. Li and her wife Zhang Xiaoyan (张晓燕) have Hong Kong residence status.
Li Peng (李鹏), former Premier and former Politburo Standing Committee member: Li’s daughter Li Xiaolin (李小琳) is a shareholder and board member of an offshore company. She has Hong Kong residence status.
Jia Qinglin (贾庆林), former Politburo Standing Committee member: Jia’s granddaughter Li Zidan (李紫丹) owns an offshore company. Both Li Zidan and her father Li Botan (李伯潭) (Jia’s son-in-law) have Hong Kong residence status.
Zeng Qinghong (曾庆红), former Politburo Standing Committee member: Zeng’s brother Zeng Qinghuai (曾庆淮) is the shareholder of an offshore company.
Deng Xiaoping (邓小平), former paramount leader: Deng’s niece Li Xiaobing (栗小兵) and her husband Yu Yiping (俞一平) became Hongkongese in 1994.
Two other officials are related but their relative’s companies were either closed or are not active:
Xi Jinping (习近平), current top leader: Xi’s brother-in-law Deng Jiagui (邓家贵) was the shareholder and board member of two offshore companies. Deng closed the companies in 2012 when Xi became the top leader.
Hu Yaobang (胡耀邦), former CCP General Secretary: Hu’s son, Hu Dehua (胡德华) was the shareholder and board member of an offshore company, Fortalent International Holdings, Ltd. Hu Dehua explained that he registered that company to help his other company to go through an IPO in Hong Kong, so his registration used all real information, including has name, Chinese passport, and address. The Hong Kong IPO didn’t work out. He hasn’t run any business through Fortalent since, nor does Fortalent have any assets. He just felt there was no need to close the company.
Sources:
1. BBC Chinese, April 6, 2016
http://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/china/2016/04/160406_panama_papers_china_capital_outflows
2. RFA, May 4, 2016
http://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/hk-secretfiles-05042016095619.html
3. South China Morning Post, April 8, 2016
http://www.nanzao.com/sc/national/153f3d1c34c61cb/ba-na-ma-wen-jian-pu-li-an-gong-si-hu-de-hua-tang-tang-zheng-zheng