China

Bo Xilai case shines light on corruption in China

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Tania Branigan – April 19, 2012

Some spirit billions out of the country, buying up luxury villas abroad; one reportedly lavished wealth on 18 mistresses; another blew a quarter of a million dollars in a two-day gambling spree.

Chinese bureaucrats may have a grey image but their ability to amass – and spend – ill-gotten gains is eye-opening. The extraordinary political scandal unfolding at the top of the party – the suspected murder of the Briton Neil Heywood by the wife of the top leader Bo Xilai – is unprecedented.

Billionaire brothers face corruption charges

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CBC News – March 30, 2012

Two brothers whose luxury real estate developments play a prominent part in Vancouver's skyline have been arrested in Hong Kong on suspicion of corruption. Ray and Thomas Kwok were taken into custody as part of a reported wide-ranging investigation by Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption.

The pair are part-owners of Asia's biggest real estate developer, Sun Hung Kai Properties. The arrests sent the company's stock plummeting, bringing about a loss of about $5 billion in value.

China Communist Party bureaucrats like their cars high end

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Barbara Demick – January 8, 2012

Even the police are driving Porsches. Chinese officials love their cars — big, fancy, expensive cars. A chocolate-colored Bentley worth $560,000 is cruising the streets of Beijing with license plates indicating it is registered to Zhongnanhai, the Communist Party headquarters. The armed police, who handle riots and crowd control, have the same model of Bentley in blue.

And just in case it needs to go racing off to war, the Chinese army has a black Maserati that sells in China for $330,000."Corruption on wheels is an accurate description of this problem," said Wang Yukai, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Governance in Beijing, who has been advocating restrictions on officials' cars for years.

Former Beijing airport boss sentenced to 12 years in prison for corruption

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Associated Press – December 8, 2011

The former boss of Beijing’s sprawling airport has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for taking bribes to arrange jobs and set up corrupt business deals.

State media said Thursday that Zhang Zhizhong was convicted in neighboring Hebei province of receiving more than 4.7 million yuan ($740,000) in illicit payments between 1996 and 2009.

Mislabeled Chinese Honey Leads to Criminal Busts

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Andrew Schneider – December 9, 2011

After a four-month investigation, federal authorities have indicted yet another group of importers for allegedly smuggling Chinese honey into the U.S.

Since September, agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection have seized more than 5 million pounds of intentionally mislabeled Chinese honey at customs warehouses near 11 U.S. ports or being shipped to honey packing operations.

Canadians prime targets for 'sexpionage'

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Teresa Smith – November 30, 2011

Picture it: a junior executive, excited to be travelling to Hong Kong representing his company at the table with potential Chinese investors. Little does he know, they'll be the ones doing the courting — and the consequences, for his career, and his company, can cost millions.

It happens all the time, says Brian McAdam, a former Canadian diplomat who now specializes in Chinese organized crime. "It's the co-mingling of the oldest profession, and the second oldest profession: prostitution and espionage," he said.

Chinese ex-spy warns Canada about how Beijing targets politicians

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Bob Dechert and Shi Rong

Steven Chase – November 30, 2011

A former Chinese spy is warning that Ottawa should be very concerned about relationships between senior politicians and journalists from China, saying Beijing is targeting lawmakers everywhere.

Li Fengzhi was discussing the case of senior Conservative MP Bob Dechert, who was enveloped by controversy in September over amorous e-mails he sent to a Chinese government journalist based in Toronto.

S. Korean Police Probe Organ Transplant Tourism to China

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NTD Television – November 24, 2011

South Korean authorities say an organized crime group has been sending South Korean patients to China for organ transplants. Police arrested one man on Monday and three others are under investigation.

According to South Korean police, the crime group has sourced organs for 94 liver cancer sufferers since 2006. They sneak patients into mainland China, giving them false Chinese identifications to undergo transplant surgery. The men collected more than $85,000 for each transplant. Four of the patients died after surgery.

Honey Processing Masks Illegal Origins

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Sarah Damian – November 8, 2011

Food industry efforts to conceal the whole truth about its products continue to reinforce the importance of whistleblowers, as did the recent investigation on honey sold in the U.S. that shows, more often than not, it can't really be considered honey at all.

Food Safety News reports that more than three-fourths of honey sold in U.S. grocery stores has been "ultra-filtered" to the point that it no longer contains pollen, which the FDA dictates must be present to call a product honey. The pollen is also the only verifiable evidence as to where the honey came from – a clue as to why it's filtered out. This blatant transparency barrier implies that the industry has a lot to hide.

In China, what you eat tells who you are

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Barbara Demick – September 21, 2011

At a glance, it is clear this is no run-of-the-mill farm: A 6-foot spiked fence hems the meticulously planted vegetables and security guards control a cantilevered gate that glides open only to select cars.

"It is for officials only. They produce organic vegetables, peppers, onions, beans, cauliflowers, but they don't sell to the public," said Li Xiuqin, 68, a lifelong Shunyi village resident who lives directly across the street from the farm but has never been inside. "Ordinary people can't go in there."

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