The two major Swiss banks have helped the heirs of the Red Elite, the setting of the supreme leaders of the Chinese Communist Party, to hide their fortunes. As Western billionaires, the successors of the dome of the " People's Republic " have distributed millions of dollars from hundreds of companies domiciled in tax havens of the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong or Samoa to save taxes or even cover up illegal businesses. This is indicated by data leaks offshore of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ, for its acronym in English), based in Washington.
Among the nearly 22,000 owners of front companies mentioned in Offshore Leaks are two people with an extraordinarily powerful father, the descendants of Wen Jiabao, Prime Minister from 2003 to 2013. The documents reviewed by the ICIJ in collaboration with Le Matin Dimanche SonntagsZeitung and exposed the relationship the family had with Wen UBS and, above all, with Credit Suisse.
Relationships between family and Wen Jiabao Swiss banks intensified at precisely the moment when China began opening to Western financial institutions.
The September 28, 2006, Credit Suisse launched the foundation Trend Gold Consultants Limited, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands. The shareholder and sole director is the son of Wen Jiabao Wen Yunsong, as evidenced Offshore Leaks Documents. Through one or several more lids, Gold Trend supposedly served to maintain accounts in CS which is difficult to link to Wen son.
After studying engineering in Beijing, " Winston Wen," as he was known in the West, continued his studies in Canada studying Materials Science. Finally, he obtained a Masters in Business Administration from the Kellogg Business School, near Chicago, in the United States.
In 2005 he returned to China. " Winston ", which then had recently turned 30, became the co-founder of the investment fund New Horizon Capital. Soon after, the relationship between CS and background Wen began to improve.
With Runchun Wen, Wen Jiabao and daughter called Lily Chang, Credit Suisse went further. In early 2000, CS used it for half a year as a subsidiary of Beijing. Internal and external to the bank sources have confirmed Wen 's daughter was destined to Credit Suisse First Boston. At that time, in China only 15 people worked for CS to Urs Buchmann orders, the director of the office in China. What could be the role of the daughter of the former prime minister, Lily Chang, in that little computer? Buchmann, his former boss, would not comment on the matter.
The fact is that in 2006, the powerful China Banking Regulatory Commission summoned the husband of Lily Chang. This committee makes decisions of enormous weight, for example, what line of business is authorized foreign bank.
Just at the time when the links between CS and the two sons of former Prime Minister, the Swiss bank became the first Western bank to enter the Chinese market asset management were woven. To achieve this goal, CS created a subsidiary, a joint venture with the state bank ICBC, the ICBCCS.
Urs Buchmann, who worked in China for CS since 1987, he led the negotiations. Buchmann speaks perfect Mandarin, talking to Peking accent, and is married to a Chinese Hong Kong. The Swiss ambassador then said of him: " Buchmann had the best relationships in politics and administration." For China, talks with the Swiss were an issue at the highest levels of state.
Eight years after this feat, Credit Suisse is one of the leading banks in the Chinese market, in June 2013, its fililal ICBCCS administered more than 200,000 million yuan, the equivalent of about 30,000 million Swiss francs. Meanwhile, Urs Buchmann was promoted to Director of Corporate and Institutional Clients for Asia and the Pacific.
In China, business relations of rich and influential families like the Wen are widespread. That's why their descendants are called taizidang, or ' crown princes '. The sons and daughters of senior politicians and offset are seduced by Western multinationals. In return, they provide privileged access to the Chinese market.
This approach sheds light on the back of the Chinese economic miracle and feeds the suspicion of corruption and conflicts of interest that undermines the credibility of the state.
Since arriving in 2012 at the summit of the Chinese Communist Party, the President Xi Jinping try washing your name with an anti-corruption campaign. He has promised to prosecute corruption within the state, and do so with small fish, which in China called " flies " as with the "tigers".
Even Premier Wen was clearly disgusted with the activities of his family. Thus says the telegram " 07SHANGHAI622 " that the U.S. delegation sent to Washington in 2007 and was published by Wikileaks. According to the document, the former prime minister was so irritated that he had "headaches " because his wife and children were known to " handle things " in exchange for a reasonable price. U.S. diplomats wrote that, of course, the families of Wen did not need to be bribed for their services, but they were receptive to " exorbitant fees for advice."
Meanwhile, Western officials have begun to pay attention to these matters. Lily Chang, Wen 's daughter, is experiencing at this time. Two years before his brother founded a company in the British Virgin Islands with the help of a friend: Fullmark Consultants Limited.
As The New York Times revealed, the company is alleged to have received from the bank JP Morgan $ 75,000 a month in consulting fees in exchange for fictitious services. The SEC, the U.S. stock supervisor suspects that the bank has transferred $ 1.8 million in alleged bribes to the Wen family.
Last fall, the SEC decided to extend the investigation to JP Morgan 's business in China, especially its personnel policy, ie the addition of the " crown princes ". Six other active banks on Wall Street are also in their sights, including UBS and CS.
Offshore Data Leaks reinforce this suspicion. In addition to the plot of CS with the sons of former Prime Minister, the information reveals the involvement of UBS: according to the documents, the bank also maintains relationships with Fullmark Consultants, ie society 's daughter Wen that pocketed the alleged bribe money.
This information could be of interest Finma, the Swiss banking supervisor. Especially because banks are required to observe strict rules when making business calls Politically Exposed Persons (PEP, for its acronym in English). According to experts, it is clear that among them are also the sons and daughters of senior politicians.
However, in China 's political connections are delicate. For months, Switzerland aims to be a future market of the yuan, the Chinese currency.
Credit Suisse and UBS, invoking bank secrecy, have been reported in individual cases can not take sides. In general, banks responded law abiding anywhere in the world. Wen Jiabao 's children have not given any response to questions.
Le Matin Dimanche © / SonntagsZeitung
Tags: children, credit, Suisse, wen