Eight current or former members of China’s ruling CPC including brother-in-law of President Xi Jinping allegedly used offshore tax havens to conceal their wealth, a development that could dent his image despite overseeing the communist giant’s sweeping anti-graft dragnet.
Eight of the top officials of the Communist Party of China (CPC) were among 140 political figures around the world said to have links to offshore accounts, according to the so-called Panama Papers — the leaked documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca. The officials include Xi’s brother-in-law Deng Jiagui, who reportedly set up two British Virgin Islands companies in 2009 when Xi was member of the powerful Standing Committee of the CPC.
In 2014, both New York Times and Bloomberg carried reports that family members of former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Xi Jinping had large assets base. Chinese foreign ministry at that time termed the allegations as smear campaigns.