Researchers for the Ministry of Commerce
estimate that about 4,000 corrupt officials who have fled China in
the past two decades transferred US$50 billion out of the
country.
Many of the big cases involved dirty money being sent to
overseas destinations through offshore finance centers.
After being presented with the report, Premier Wen
Jiabao ordered finance regulators to develop ways to deal with
the problem, according to the Monday edition of Beijing's
Evening Legal News.
Dr. Mei Xinyu, lead writer of the report, told the newspaper
that corrupt officials and some private firms were using companies
registered in offshore finance centers, such as the British Virgin
Islands and the Bahamas, to transfer capital and illicit gains out
of China illegally.
The researchers estimate that Chinese companies and individuals
have registered tens of thousands of firms in such offshore finance
centers.
China has the world's fourth most serious problem with capital
flight, and the annual figure has been rising at half the speed of
its foreign debt growth since 1985, reported Mei.
The authorities are planning to set up a joint task force to
deal with capital flight, he said.
(Shenzhen Daily August 17, 2004)