Uh oh, it's a graft probe - time to disappear
Staff Reporter 2013-08-14 10:40
The customs desk at Beijing Capital International Airport. (Photo/Xinhua)
At least three officials, including the party chairman of Guangzhou's Huadu district Wang Yanwei, have been confirmed missing since June, giving rise to speculations that they have fled the country after their alleged involvement in corruption was exposed.
Also missing is Cai Daoming, head of a county-level Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Bureau in Hubei province. Cai was merely "absent," while Wang was said to be "on sick leave," reports the Chinese-language Beijing News.
It is not clear whether their sudden disappearance is linked to the alleged corruption investigations launched against them following the start of President Xi Jinping's anti-graft campaign.
Peking University professor Jiang Mingan said that such disappearances are more often than not linked to an official's involvement in graft. They are either under investigation or heard from sources that they were going to be investigated by authorities.
Publicly available data show that the last time Wang appeared in public was on May 30, when he attended a groundbreaking ceremony. He later took sick leave and has not been heard of since.
Anti-corruption expert Li Yongzhong stated that many officials disappeared before and during the investigation process.
But not all missing officials can remain off the public's radar.
Lu Wanli, chairman of a highway development company in Guizhou and the province's transportation department director, was reported missing in January 2012 after news emerged that relevant authorities were investigating him for his alleged involvement in taking bribes.
It was later revealed that Lu fled the country using a fake passport to Fiji. He was extradited back into China and executed.
The official website of China's central bank showed that since mid-1990, between 16,000 to 18,000 officials from the government and state-run companies have gone missing. They were accused of misappropriating a total of 800 billion yuan (US$130 billion).
The highest ranking official to have disappeared so far is former China Guodian president Gao Yen. The media suspects that Gao took bribes and fled the country after the National Audit Office discovered that his corporation recorded an asset loss of a whooping 4.6 billion yuan (US$751 million) in 2003.
