Bagging a Military Tiger

Guo Boxiong is the highest military official to date to be charged for graft

Looks like Chinese President Xi Jinping has caught another "tiger" in his anti-corruption campaign. This time it's retired military chief of the People's Liberation Army, Guo Boxiong, 74, charged with taking bribes worth 80 million yuan.

He has apparently "confessed unsparingly" to his wrongdoings. Guo retired in 2013 and was under investigation last year, and expelled from the Party in July.

Apparently 80 million yuan is only a fraction of the amount Guo actually received, as prosecutors didn't want to play this up, which seems strange, but all may be revealed later.

Xi's relatives have been named in the Panama Papers

Previously Guo was considered the most powerful professional soldier in former president Hu Jintao's two terms. As the former vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, Guo was in charge of the day-to-day operations of the world's largest army for a decade.

He had a powerbase in the Lanzhou Military Command, the largest of the seven commands that made up the PLA before the system was overhauled this year.

The command oversaw five far-western provinces and regions, including Xinjiang.

While Guo's case is likely to be held in a closed-door military court, state media will probably have a field day revealing details of the case afterwards to justify why this tiger was caught.

Li Peng's daughter, Li Xiaolin apparently has shell companies

It seems like there is a bottomless pit of people to catch, though with the release of the Panama Papers that point out Xi's relatives, in particular his brother-in-law Deng Jiagui, has used shell companies to hide wealth.

Li Xiaolin, former premier Li Peng's daughter is also named in the documents, along with eight former and current members of China's Politburo.

But of course, this kind of news was conveniently rubbed out on the mainland, and when asked by foreign reporters about this, Hong Lei, the official spokesperson said: "For such groundless accusations I have no comment."

The Chinese equivalent of, "Nothing to see here folks, move along!"

Generating Shock News

Li Xiaolin suddenly resigned from a nuclear power company yesterday

When I lived in Beijing, the government under then President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao tried to merge various state enterprises together to make them more efficient.

However, the biggest problem was at the top, where the leaders of each company would refuse to budge, ie step down, and so each continued ruling their own companies like fiefdoms.

That led to further stagnation, overproduction, and stock prices sinking.

But there is some light at the end of the tunnel, starting with Li Xiaolin, daughter of former Premier Li Peng.

On December 30, a deal was struck between China Power New Energy Development and State Nuclear Power Technology Company involving the payment of shares and cash for the latter's assets.

Li in Roberto Cavalli coat worth 35K yuan

The restructuring was engineered by the State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

Up until yesterday she was chairwoman of China Power International Development, a sister company of China Power New Energy Development.

Li, 54, was also vice-president of China Power Investment Corporation, working there for 12 years. But in July, CPI merged with State Nuclear Power Technology to become State Power Investment Group, and there was no announcement of her having any role in the new entity.

The news shocked those in the industry who assumed Li would lead State Power Investment Group because of her background.

However she was recently transferred to China Datang Corporation, a large state-owned enterprise focused on power generation.

But even more interesting -- because she had to resign from China Power New Energy Development, shares of the company jumped 19.35 percent on the Hong Kong stock exchange to HK$0.74. It was previously at HK$0.60.

The resignation also paves the way for the new boss, Wang Binghua to finally make some changes, such as set up a back-door listing in order to publicly trade the country's nuclear power assets.

No longer the "power queen", Li will have to be content in a somewhat respectable job, but with much less influence than before.

Perhaps this might have something to do with a report that came out last January by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The group found Li was director of two companies, Tianwo Holdings and Tianwo Development that were set up in the British Virgin Islands, a well-known tax haven.

The report contended that Li and many other close relatives of current and former leaders had funneled so much illicit capital that it had a severe impact on China's economy and contributed to the widening wealth gap and corruption.

And how did Chinese state media report on Li's sudden departure of China Power New Energy Development?

China Radio International said she resigned "due to her work schedule" with no further details...