Are you interested in property with garish golden columns and statues of boys urinating, Hello Kitty doorbells and fluffy pink wallpaper? Now’s your chance: the fire sale of all fire sales in now on!
Luxury properties are being dumped on the market in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou for anyone able to pay in cash as crooked officials try to cover their tracks.
A report by the Communist Party’s powerful anti-corruption unit, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CDIC), said “a wave of luxury home sales began last November and has accelerated since December”.
…The CDIC report, which was obtained by the Economic Observer newspaper, suggested that nearly 10,000 luxury homes had been sold by government officials in Guangzhou and Shanghai alone last year.
Take the money and run:
It also claimed that an astonishing $1 trillion (£630 billion), equivalent to 40 per cent of Britain’s annual GDP, had been smuggled out of China illegally in 2012.
…The CDIC said 1,100 government officials had fled China during last year’s national holidays in October and that 714 had been successful in getting away.
All this means you too can be the proud owner of a French-style chateau courtesy of the nouveau riche at a bargain basement price. As an added bonus, it’s probably been built on land liberated from the local nongmin who, as they are now destitute, will be happy to act as indentured servants.
Bored? No problem, feel free to entertain yourself in the KTV room or watch soaps of glorious PLA victories in the IMAX theater. If that’s not enough, feast your eyes on these 10,000 bottles of Château Lafite Rothschild from your personal cellar. Why no, we don’t know where they came from.
Hurry! For a limited time only, a year’s supply of white dressing gowns and slippers is included.
China’s Communist party cadres launch property fire sale (The Telegraph, image China Daily)
I know that the government has a need, more than ever, to move against corruption but what has been stopping them from tackling $1 trillion leaving the country never to be returned? With all of the scandals that have been taking place among previous top officials regarding corruption, I can see why they want to make their moves on corruption very public but why not all that damn money? They wouldn’t even need to be highly public with it. SHIT!
What would you have them do? Its always been hard to legally get your money out. And for years there have been ‘ways’. Stop those ways? Haha I amuse myself. Unstoppable because its all run from within the party to benefit those within the party.
Its mostly the rich and connected who are able to do this. You gonna tell the general’s son he can’t take the money out?
History is clear: commies can’t control their own ranks. That’s why they have to waste their energy exhorting the officials to toe the line all the time…
What….you actually think that the 10,000 bottles of Lafitte Rothschild are real? Don’t you realize that they are really Great Wall with the labels replaced?
But even more officials fled out of the USA, taking $2 trillion! Also, they are dumping even bigger estates. The USA is more corrupt!!!
Ha classic!
“It also claimed that an astonishing $1 trillion (£630 billion), equivalent to 40 per cent of Britain’s annual GDP, had been smuggled out of China illegally in 2012.”
This is what I meant re the Gini figures…
AHAHAHA!!