5 Chinese Judges from Shanghai Soliciting Prostitutes Together — Jiang Zemin is the Creator of the Bad Precedents

A video exposed five Shanghai Superior Court officers who solicited prostitutes, causing a public sensation. Ironically, the places that court officers go to solicit prostitutes are labeled as “major reception sites of People’s Government of Shanghai City.” Some commentators stated that Shanghai judicial system is corrupt to such a degree that Jiang Zemin, former Municipal Secretary of Shanghai, cannot absolve himself from blame.

10 Chinese Officials Fired in Sex Tape Scandal in Chongqing City

Ten Chinese officials were fired from their posts in connection with a sex tape extortion scandal in the southwestern city of Chongqing, while police broke up a criminal ring that was behind the incidents, according to state-run media.

The ten officials allegedly appeared in the one or more of the videos, which were used by the ring to blackmail them into handing out profitable building contracts.

One official in Chongqing, Lei Zhengfu, a portly man whose face appeared in screenshots that have appeared across the Internet, lost his job following the emergence of the scandal last November.

China’s Bo Xilai Wife ‘has confessed’ to killing the British Businessman Neil Heywood

Investigators have said that the wife of the disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai has confessed to killing the British businessman Neil Heywood, according to the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun.

Gu Kailai was detained because she was “highly suspected” of killing Heywood following a row over an unspecified financial conflict, according to official reports. A family employee, Zhang Xiaojun, is also being held.

It would be extremely rare for such a high-profile and politically well-connected figurenot to be tried after being publicly named as a suspect in such a serious crime. Experts on the Chinese legal system have assumed since the announcement of Gu’s detention that she will go to trial and be convicted.

Bo Xilai Fired- Wang Lijun scandal and political struggle in China

Bo Xilai is Party chief of Chongqing no longer, according to the Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily. The public destruction of Bo’s career—coming on the heels of a press conference held by Premier Wen Jiabao where Bo was publicly rebuked—is a dramatic climax to a political power struggle that first burst into the open last month when Bo’s lieutenant sought refuge at the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu. The dissident news website Boxun reported Wang accused Bo of plotting a coup to overthrow the next presumptive head of the CCP.

A People’s Daily notice indicated that Bo’s forced retirement was first announced by Wen who, responding to a question from a Reuters journalist, said, “The current Chongqing City Committee and government needs to self-reflect, and earnestly learn lessons from the Wang Lijun incident.”

China: Sexual prematurity in babies- Dairy Companies Face New Questions

By BRIAN SPEGELE, The Wall Street Journal, Aug. 12, 2010 –

BEIJING— Mounting questions about abnormal hormone levels in several Chinese infants who demonstrated early signs of puberty have again put a Chinese milk supplier and New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd. on the defensive about their products.

The latest issue comes two years after the 2008 milk scandal, in which at least six children died and 300,000 were sickened from milk that contained dangerous levels of melamine, an industrial chemical.

The Chinese company at the center of the latest questions, Nasdaq-listed Synutra International  Inc., insists it isn’t to blame for symptoms of sexual prematurity in babies, including breast growth. On Synutra’s website, it says the company has never added illegal hormones to its milk products, and questions links between its product and the babies’ signs of puberty.

“These claims are highly irresponsible and based on speculation instead of scientific evidence,” said the company’s chairman and chief executive, Liang Zhang. “As a well-known and trusted provider of infant formula in China, we are completely confident that our products are safe and our quality levels are industry leading.”

Earlier this month, parents and doctors in central China’s Hubei province began voicing concern that milk powder from Synutra had caused at least three infant girls to exhibit signs of puberty, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported. This week, Ministry of Health officials said they were launching an investigation into the milk powder.

At a news conference on Tuesday, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Health said multiple factors could cause sexual prematurity, and experts couldn’t yet determine whether food was a factor, Xinhua reported.

In 2008, Fonterra, one of New Zealand’s largest companies, faced a wave of criticism in the aftermath of the milk scandal. Fonterra owned a large stake in one of the companies at the center of the scandal, the now-defunct Sanlu Group, but has flourished in China following Sanlu’s closing. Synutra recalled some of its products during the melamine scare…….(more details from Wall Stret Journal)

China Replaces Top Soccer Official as Police Probe Match-Fixing

Bloomberg via Business Week, Jan 22, 2010-

Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) — China sacked its top soccer official today after he was questioned by police as part of an investigation into match-fixing and following a call by President Hu Jintao to rejuvenate the sport.

Nan Yong was removed as the director of the soccer administration under the General Administration of Sport and replaced by Wei Di, the official Xinhua News Agency reported today. Wei was formerly head of the water sports administration and has also overseen boxing and weightlifting, Xinhua said.

Dozens of coaches, referees and other soccer officials have been detained since 12 ministry-level government agencies formed a committee in March 2009 to crack down on graft in the sport. Soccer in China, which failed to qualify for the 2006 and 2010 Football World Cup, is in disarray as match-fixing, bribery and violence on the pitch have left millions of fans disenchanted with the “beautiful game.”…… (more details from Business Week)

Helen Liu ‘spy’ storm widens: Australia and China

By Glenn Milne and Sharri Markson, The Sunday Telegraph, Australia, March 29, 2009-

THE Chinese-Australian woman at the centre of a top-level espionage inquiry has met both Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and former PM John Howard, it has been revealed.

Mr Rudd is believed to have attended a private dinner in Brisbane in 2004, where he met and talked at length in Mandarin with Helen Liu.

Ms Liu is at the centre of allegations that the nation’s top spy organisation, the highly-secretive Defence Signals Directorate (DSD), tapped into the laptop of Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon, without his knowledge.

The DSD allegedly discovered Ms Liu’s bank account details in Mr Fitzgibbon’s computer.

The Minister, who denies any wrongdoing, rents a Canberra flat from Ms Liu, a family friend for more than 16 years.

The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security, Mr Ian Carnell, has now launched a formal investigation into claims that DSD spied on the minister and all “related matters”.

It’s now alleged that Mr Rudd attended the 2004 dinner with Ms Liu, at the invitation of another major ALP donor and known Labor supporter, Brisbane property developer Maha Sinnathamby, whose personal fortune is estimated at $571 million.

A spokesman for Mr Sinnathamby confirmed yesterday he had known Mr Rudd for more than 20 years and had dined privately with him on a number of occasions, as well as at numerous larger public functions.

But the spokesman said Mr Sinnathamby could “not recall” the 2004 dinner allegedly attended by both Ms Liu and Mr Rudd.

The spokesman said Mr Sinnathamby knew Mr Rudd personally, but he knew Treasurer, Wayne Swan “much better”.

A spokesman for Mr Rudd refused to deny the claims he had dined with Ms Liu in 2004, saying only: “The Prime Minister attends hundreds of functions and meets thousands of people every year.”

The undated photograph of Mr Howard with Ms Liu appears to have been taken at a public function. Mr Howard is known to have enduring and good relations with the Sydney Chinese business community.

He had a large number of Chinese residents in his former seat of Bennelong. Mr Sinnathamby is a major ALP donor, contributing more than $70,000 to the party over the last decade.

But the Liberal Party has also long accepted donations from Chinese-born business figures.

These have included Dr Chau Chak Wing who gave $1 million to the Coalition and almost $500,000 to the ALP in the last financial year.

Legislation aimed at banning foreign donations was voted down in the Federal Parliament by the Coalition and Independent Senator Steve Fielding only last month.

NSW Greens MP Lee Rhiannon said there is a growing Chinese influence in Australian companies, particularly extractive industries.

“We’ve got no way of stopping a continuation of these wealthy Chinese bankrolling a string of politicians and exerting their influence,” she said.

Dr Chau Chak Wing, a Hong Kong-based property developer, is understood to have been a confidant of Mr Howard, former NSW premier Bob Carr and Mr Rudd.

Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce said last week he was also concerned about large donations from China.

“In the marriage between the Australian people and the wealth of our nation, the Labor Party is having an affair with China and trying to pass it off as they’re just good friends,” he said.

Australian Securities and Investment Corporation documents show Ms Liu’s Australian company, Australia China Investments, is half-owned by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, one of the four major financial arms of the Chinese Government.

She has been photographed with former Chinese premier Li Peng in Sydney in 2002.

It has also been revealed that defence officials may have alerted the Government to security concerns over Mr Fitzgibbon’s relationship with Ms Liu.

The Prime Minister’s office is refusing to reveal whether defence personnel told government staff there were security concerns over the relationship.

Mr Rudd’s spokeswoman said the matter was not raised with the Prime Minister’s office, but refused to comment when asked whether defence security officials raised concerns with anyone else in the Government.

The Age newspaper reported on Saturday that defence security officials had done just that with Mr Rudd’s office some months ago, but no action was taken.

Labor Party figures have speculated whether the real source of the leaked dirt file on Mr Fitzgibbon was a disgruntled former staffer and not upset Defence Department officials.

Attorney-General Robert McClelland issued a statement Friday, saying ASIO had “no information relating to Ms Helen Liu which would have given rise to any security concern regarding her activities or associations”.

Asked by The Sunday Telegraph whether Ms Liu had been investigated by ASIO and cleared, Mr McClelland declined to comment further.

Mr Fitzgibbon has rented a Canberra house from Ms Liu at a market rate and she paid for his visit to China in 2002 and 2005 – trips he initially did not declare on the parliamentary register of MPs’ pecuniary interests.

Mr Rudd, who is visiting Washington and attending a G20 meeting in London, has reprimanded Mr Fitzgibbon for failing to register the trips, but is sticking by him with the warning that he expects him to “do better”.

Defence Department secretary Nick Warner said on Friday that an initial Defence Security Authority inquiry had found no Defence spying operation targeting Mr Fitzgibbon or Ms Liu.

The Australian Chinese community is divided on Ms Liu. Some say she is highly regarded and generous; others say she is not well-known and has not donated to community charities.

Mr Tanner has said there is nothing sinister about the relationships.

“The fact that she has been photographed with former prime minister John Howard does seem to suggest that we shouldn’t assume that there’s anything particularly sinister about this,” Mr Tanner told Sky News.

“She’s a businesswoman and like many other business people she has had significant contact with public figures over the past.

“All the story illustrates … is the fact that prominent business people do tend to meet with leaders of both sides of politics.”

– www.news.com.au

China releases parents of melamine sickened children: lawyer

AFP, Jan. 3, 2008-

BEIJING (AFP) — Chinese police have released five parents of children sickened by melamine-tainted milk, a day after detaining them to prevent them holding a press conference, their lawyer told AFP Saturday.

The five adults were preparing to speak to the media to demand better treatment for their sick children when they were detained on Thursday evening in Beijing.

“They have all been released,” said lawyer Xu Zhiyong. “Their (the police’s) aim was to stop them from holding a press conference.”

Police in Beijing were unavailable for comment.

Ma Hongbin, one of the parents held, refused to talk about his detention, but said his daughter’s health was still bad after she drank milk contaminated by the industrial chemical.

“Let’s not talk about this, ok?” he told AFP by phone on Saturday of his detention.

He said his 18-month-old daughter had developed kidney stones after consuming tainted milk powder made by Sanlu, one of the Chinese dairy firms at the heart of the scandal.

“She fell ill on September 1, and she had very large kidney stones, which have now been evacuated,” Ma said.

“But her situation is still not good, and when the weather changes, you can see her face is a bit bloated. Her fallopian tube has also expanded.”

The scandal of China’s milk scandal came to light in September and has had nationwide repercussions with at least six children dying and nearly 300,000 suffering from kidney and urinary problems after they drank contaminated milk.

Melamine, normally used to make plastic, was added to watered-down milk to make it appear higher in protein.

Journalists were alerted on Wednesday of plans by the parents of affected children to hold a press conference, but the five were held in a centre in the south of the city before being released on Friday evening……. (more from AFP)

Members of Nobel Committees investigated for China trip corruption

AFP, Via The Sydney Morning Herald, December 20, 2008 –

STOCKHOLM: Several Nobel science prize committees in Sweden are being investigated for possible corruption.

The first case involves several members from the Nobel committees for medicine, physics and chemistry who visited China at the expense of the Chinese authorities.

A special prosecutor, Nils Erik Schultz, said he was looking into the cost of the trip, the itinerary, who went and why the Chinese invited them. No Chinese citizen has won a Nobel Prize for the past three years.

Another investigation involves the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, which this year signed a sponsor agreement with two Nobel companies with close ties to the Nobel Foundation: Nobel Web and Nobel Media.

The Times reported yesterday that a member of the jury also sat on AstraZeneca’s board. Prosecutors are studying whether the multinational pharmaceutical company could have exerted undue influence on this year’s Nobel Prize in medicine.

Half of this year’s award went to Harald zur Hausen of Germany for his discovery of the human papilloma virus that causes cervical cancer. AstraZeneca receives royalties for two vaccines against HPV.

Agence France-Presse