Top Statistician in China Scandal

BBC news

October 19, 2006

Pension fund money has been invested in risky property ventures.

The head of China 's National Bureau of Statistics has become the latest high-profile casualty of the Shanghai pension fund corruption scandal.

Qiu Xiaohua was sacked from his job for suspected "severe violations of discipline", a bureau spokesman said.

The allegations against Mr Qiu centre on the alleged misuse of the city's multi-million dollar pension fund.

Several other top officials and prominent businessmen have also been implicated in the growing scandal.

In a separate case, five senior judges in the southern city of Shenzhen have been either detained or questioned in a wide-ranging bribery investigation there.

Widening inquiry

Mr Qiu is the first official from outside Shanghai to be implicated in the pension fund scandal.

"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," said National Bureau of Statistics spokesman Li Xiaochao.

"The central disciplinary office is now conducting an investigation into his involvement," Mr Li added.

SHANGHAI PENSIONS SCANDAL

More than 100 central government investigators have been sent to Shanghai to investigate money that has disappeared from the city's 10 billion yuan ($1.25 billion) social security fund.

The funds were allegedly used to make illegal loans and investments in real estate and other infrastructure deals.

Last month, China 's most senior Communist Party official in Shanghai , Chen Liangyu, was sacked in connection with the scandal.

Mr Chen, 60, was accused of seeking benefits for companies and relatives, and protecting people around him "who had seriously violated discipline and law".

On Wednesday, a Shanghai newspaper reported that Yu Zhifei, the head of Shanghai 's showcase Formula One motor racing circuit, was also being questioned about the pensions case.

Mr Yu was asked about alleged "illegal operations" at the $240m (£128m ) race track, according to the Shanghai Securities News report.

More than 10 other senior officials have been named in the rapidly widening investigation.

Official corruption is a major problem in China , according the BBC correspondent in Beijing , Daniel Griffiths.

The government has promised action, he says, but these cases are a reminder of the scale of the challenge facing the authorities.