Naked official

裸体做官 (luǒtǐ zuòguān): naked official

This naked official puts “public funds” into a bag labeled “corruption.” The official is in China, while his wife and daughter are abroad.

An official exposed while transferring assets to his family in North America.

A naked official (裸官 luǒ guān for short) is a corrupt official who funnels illegally obtained public funds to his family and children, who reside overseas; thus, the official appears naked (without assets) but is really preparing a nest egg outside of China.

Between 1978 and 2003, the Ministry of Commerce estimates that about 4,000 corrupt officials left China, taking with them at least USD$50 billion.

Former Chongqing Party Secretary Bo Xilai is perhaps China’s most notorious naked official. Although his income was just US$1600 per month, he managed to send his son Guagua to an elite British boarding school, then Oxford and Harvard. Bo’s wife, Gu Kailai, was given a suspended death sentence for murdering family friend Neil Heywood after he allegedly demanded a larger cut of an illegal overseas money transfer.

On August 7, 2014, the People's Daily Online published an article with a title explaining that official figures for the exact number of naked officials cannot be released due to concerns for political stability. In response to this inadequate explanation, one netizen made the following comment on Sina Weibo:

博联社马晓霖: [Political earthquake] Isn't the title of the People's Daily Online article a bit too ridiculous? Announcing the number of naked officials would trigger a "political earthquake?" They sure lack the "three confidence." I believe the public is already numb. Where are you gonna get a political earthquake?

【政治地震】人民网这篇文章的标题是否很雷人？公布裸官数量就可能引发“政治地震”？太没有“三个自信”了。我感觉群众已经麻木了，哪里来的政治地震？

<feed url="feed://chinadigitaltimes.net/china/official-corruption/feed/" entries="5">

[{PERMALINK} {TITLE}]

{DATE}, by {AUTHOR} </feed>