Exactly How Much Have Officials Swindled out of China?

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.