The eight members of China’s Communist party elite whose
family members used offshore companies are revealed in the Panama Papers. China’s
censors have been blocking access to the unfolding revelations about its most
senior political families. There are now reports of censors deleting hundreds
of posts on the social networks Sina Weibo and Wechat, and some media
organisations including CNN say parts of their websites have been blocked. They
show how secrecy havens are being used to create and hide potentially lucrative
connections between big business and politics in the world’s second largest
economy.
The documents show the granddaughter of a powerful Chinese
leader became the sole shareholder in two British Virgin Islands companies
while still a teenager. Jasmine Li had just begun studying at Stanford
University in the US when the companies were registered in her name in December
2010. Her grandfather Jia Qinglin was at that time the fourth-ranked politician
in China.
Other prominent figures who have taken advantage of offshore
companies include the brother-in-law of the president, Xi Jinping, and the
son-in-law of Zhang Gaoli, another member of China’s top political body, the
politburo standing committee.
They are part of the “red nobility”, whose influence extends
well beyond politics. Others include the daughter of Li Peng, who oversaw the
brutal retaliation against Tiananmen Square protestors; and Gu Kailai, wife of
Bo Xilai, the ex-politburo member jailed for life for corruption and power
abuses. Two more well-connected figures – the brother of former vice-president
Zeng Qinghong and the son of former politburo member Tian Jiyun – are directors
of a single offshore company. They have previously been linked in a court case
that highlighted how some Chinese “princelings” have used political connections
for financial gain.
China and Hong Kong were Mossack Fonseca’s biggest sources
of business, with clients from these jurisdictions linked to a total of 40,000
companies past and present. About a quarter of these are thought to be live: in
2015, records show the firm was collecting fees for nearly 10,000 companies
linked to Hong Kong and China. The Mossack Fonseca franchise now has offices in
eight Chinese cities, according to its website.
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