Beijing ( AsiaNews) - Political leaders, industrialists and their families, and even anti - corruption officials commissioned by Xi Jinping have funds stashed away in tax havens around the world. This was revealed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in a report on data obtained by a massive leak. The scandal, which covers more than 2.5 million files, has been renamed "Chinaleaks" and could lead to a new wave of censorship in the country.
According to the text, the holders of foreign accounts include 22 thousand customers with address in mainland China and another 16 thousand that can be traced back to Hong Kong and Taiwan. Having an offshore account is not in itself a crime, the secrecy surrounding these data banks and international privacy laws of tax havens make them highly suspect. In the best case scenario, experts point out, they are used to evade taxes, in the worst to harbour capital abroad.
The names of account holders include Deng Jiagui , brother of the President Xi Jinping, and two sons of former Prime Minister Wen Jiabao (Wen Yunsong and Wen Ruchun , both involved in a scandal related to the family that emerged last year). There are also relatives of former President Hu Jintao, the reformer Deng Xiaoping and the "butcher of Tiananmen ," the former premier Li Peng . There are even some of the biggest business people in the country: Yang Huiyan , the " richest woman in China" at the head of Country Garden Holdings , and her male counterpart , Pony Ma Huateng , founder of internet giant Tencent, the construction billionaire Zhang Xin.
Finally, there are also the names
of officials involved in the investigation against the former head of internal
security, Zhou Yongkang. The proceedings against Zhou - former ally of Bo Xilai
- is the most important internal trial in China in recent times , and many
believe the real "test" to see if Xi Jinping is serious in his battle
against corruption within the Party and state
industries .
The
scandal of the foreign accounts also reveals the "dark side " of
Chinese growth . Many
analysts point out that it is "common practice" for Chinese companies
to open offshore accounts in order to sell their products abroad without paying
taxes . In
this way they accumulate capital which then re-enter the country in the form of
investments (that are subject to much lower taxation than that for exports) or they
keep the money outside of China.
Clark Gascoigne , spokesperson
for the Global Financial Integrity (an American foundation that oversees ethics
in finance), told the South China Morning
Post that the data in the report "is not a surprise, given that China
is believed to be the largest exporter of illicit capital to world.
We are speaking about a turnover of approximately one trillion dollars, compared
with 880 billion from Russia and 461 billion from Mexico".
The
risk , said Gascoigne , "is that this practice could exacerbate the social
and economic inequality in the country even further, already a factor in the high
instability. Moreover, the foreign accounts gives more space to
corruption." China
, the expert concludes , "has
the ability to tackle this issue effectively, and there's no reason why they
can't take the lead. After all, it's developing and emerging economies like
China that suffer the most from illicit financial flows".