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Flies and Tigers | 抓蝇打虎

Investigation into chief of statistics bureau

By Wang Yanlin | January 27, 2016, Wednesday | Print Edition

THE head of China’s National Bureau of Statistics is being investigated by the ruling Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection for “serious violations,” the latest top official to be implicated in the nationwide corruption crackdown.

Yesterday’s announcement came just hours after Wang Bao’an had attended a press conference on the country’s economy and stock market.

He expressed confidence in the market, while trying to reassure investors that volatility would have a limited impact on the real economy.

Wang also reiterated that there was no basis for further yuan depreciation given China’s economic fundamentals.

He told reporters: “China’s economy will be supported by urbanization, consumption and other positive factors.”

Wang was appointed head of the statistics bureau in April last year.

The statement did not give any more details about the investigation. In the past, use of such wording about violations has generally referred to corruption.

Last week, it was Wang who announced the country’s latest set of economic data, including the 2016 China GDP figure of 6.9 percent.

Born in 1963 in Henan Province, he worked in the Ministry of Finance, the State Administration of Taxation and the provincial government of Heilongjiang Province after gaining his doctoral degree in economics from the Zhongnan University of Economics and Law.

Wang was deputy finance minister from 2012 until April 2015, according to details posted on the CCDI website.

Wang is the latest in a long line of high-ranking officials caught up in China’s sweeping anti-corruption drive.

The campaign has targeted a broad swathe of high-ranking officials, from members of the military to former judges and various ministry chiefs, as well as numerous bosses of state-owned companies.

This month, a former vice public security minister, Li Dongsheng, was jailed for 15 years for corruption offences.

Eight provincial-level Party leaders were punished last year in addition to 441 city-level and 3,800 county-level officials.

Among them were “tigers” such as the nation’s former security chief Zhou Yongkang, former generals Xu Caihou and Guo Boxiong, and Ling Jihua, a former vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

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