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China pension fund scandal nets top statistician
2006-10-19
China's top statistician was sacked after anti-corruption investigations implicated him in the Shanghai pension fund scandal, a spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. Qiu Xiaohua -- who announced plans to issue a new "Happiness Index" this year to include living conditions, the environment and salary -- was dismissed as chief of the statistics bureau this month for breaches of discipline, bureau spokesman Li Xiaochao told a news conference. "Relevant departments, when carrying out investigations into the Shanghai social security fund scandal, found out that Qiu was suspected of being involved in severe violations of party discipline," Li said. "The central disciplinary office is now conducting an investigation into his involvement." Xinhua news agency said Qiu was "discovered to be involved" in the scandal. Qiu was removed after just seven months in the job and was replaced by the deputy director of a government think-tank. More than 100 central government anti-corruption investigators have descended on Shanghai in recent months to investigate money reportedly drained from the city's 10 billion yuan ($1.25 billion) social security fund for illicit loans and investments. The probe led to the dismissal of Chen Liangyu as Shanghai Communist Party boss last month. Chen was the first member of the party's 24-member decision-making Politburo to be sacked since 1995 when Beijing party chief Chen Xitong was purged and jailed for corruption. The two Chens are not related. In an indication of the depth of the scandal, Yu Zhifei, the head of the city's Formula One Grand Prix Circuit, and two senior executives at subsidiaries of Shanghai Electric Group Co. Ltd, China's largest maker of power equipment, were detained or summoned for questioning this week. Yu Zhifei, general manager of Shanghai International Circuit Co., which hosts the Chinese Grand Prix, has been summoned for questioning by officials, state media reported this week. He was being questioned mainly because the race track was built early this decade without the necessary permission of Beijing's Ministry of Land and Resources, the official Shanghai Securities News on Thursday quoted unnamed sources as saying. In addition, investigators suspect Yu or associates may have used the project to push up land prices in the area of the track and profit from real estate speculation, the newspaper said. The Shanghai track was built early this decade for about $350 million, including associated costs, making it the world's most expensive Formula One raceway. Contacted by telephone, an official at the ministry said he could not comment on Thursday, while officials at Shanghai International Circuit declined to comment. Xu Wei, a senior official at several subsidies of Shanghai Electric Group Co. Ltd, was being investigated on suspicion of violating Communist Party rules, the company said. Xu is chairman of the supervisory committee of the Shanghai Transmission and Distribution Co. Ltd., a vice chairman of the company's 47.28 percent owned Shanghai Mechanical & Electrical Industry Co. Ltd., a director of the Shanghai Electric Finance Co. and supervisor of Rail Traffic Equipment Development Co. Cheng Yanmin, a director at Shanghai Automation Instrumentation Co. Ltd., another Shanghai Electric Group unit, was also being investigated for "violations of personal discipline," the Shanghai Daily said on Thursday.
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