For China Media Project, Qian Gang analyzes recent news reports about vast amounts of money allegedly taken out of the country by corrupt officials:
A report run on various major Websites on January 10 and 11 bore the headline: “4,000 corrupt officials have fled our nation with an estimated 100 million yuan each in the last 30 years.” [Another link HERE].
According to some reports, these figures were given by CCDI deputy secretary Li Yufu (李玉赋) at a recent press briefing.When I saw these figures being tossed around, I was quite surprised. It wasn’t the enormous figure given for embezzled assets that took me aback, but rather the frankness with which the figure had apparently been shared by a senior CCDI official.
When I followed up on Li’s statement in news coverage about the press briefing, however, I could not find any mention of the figure, and it quickly became clear that basic blunders had multiplied through the news media.
