High-Powered Chinese officials exposed in Panama Papers

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April 6, 2016 9:04 PM

Reports say Chinese government censors have tried since the first release of leaked documents on Sunday to keep the media in China from mentioning the names of these individuals.

Relatives of Chinese president Xi Jinping and at least three of the most powerful people in the ruling Chinese Communist Party have been mentioned in the latest release of the Panama Papers published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

They have gone as far as to block internet searches of the words Panama Papers, further reports have revealed.

The documents, which came from Mossack Fonseca, a boutique Panamanian law firm that specializes in creating tax shelters and secretive corporations for wealthy clients, have jolted political leaders and other powerful figures around the world.

But they are considered especially sensitive in China, where the Communist Party, under Mr. Xi, has pledged to eradicate corruption within its ranks and seeks to portray itself as a champion of equality, despite some of the world’s most glaring income disparities.

The daughter-in-law of China’s propaganda chief, Liu Yunshan, was once a shareholder and director of a company registered in the British Virgin Islands, and the son-in-law of Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli was a shareholder in three companies domiciled in the British tax haven, the consortium reported.

President Xi is the third member of the Politburo committee cited in the report as having a relative who controlled offshore companies. The ties of Mr. Xi’s brother-in-law, Deng Jiagui, to offshore companies have been known since 2012, when a Bloomberg News article about Mr. Xi’s family wealth detailed the business empire of Mr. Deng and his wife, Qi Qiaoqiao, the president’s sister.

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