Chinese officials pulling out money, selling assets

Chinese Communist Party officials are rushing to withdraw money from banks and selling luxury properties after the party launched a crackdown on corruption, media reports said today.

Officials and their families have been withdrawing foreign currencies from banks all over the country. A total of 1.792 billion yuan (USD 290 million) were taken out of banks in Guangdong province alone, a report in Henan Business Daily said.

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Banks in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Jiangsu, Shandong, Zhejiang, Guangdong and Fujian have also reported withdrawls made by officials and their relatives, the Hong Kong based South China Morning Post has said.

Chinese media also reported a drop in the number of cars bearing military plaques that visit night clubs and restaurants in Beijing. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said they had also noticed a sharp rise in the volume of property transactions - mostly made by owners who are government employees and senior officials of state-owned enterprises, the report said.

The properties they were seeking to sell are mostly luxury units or houses, it said. The cities where the largest number of transactions occurred include: Nanjing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Tianjin, Shenyang, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Jinan, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Chengdu, report said.

The commission recently announced it would draft and launch a five-year anti-corruption plan this year. They would also start spot checks on senior officials' declared personal assets. This new move has been expected by many officials after the 18th party congress last year. Guangzhou 's mayor Chen Jianhua said yesterday that he would "take the lead" to disclose his asset if ordered to do so.