'Chinese city official escapes to US with millions of dollars'

Beijing: A former top city-level official of the ruling Communist Party of China, who was facing corruption charges, has fled to the US, reportedly with millions of dollars.

Wang Guoqiang, who was the party's secretary for Fengcheng city in Liaoning province, left for the US along with his wife in April this year, official media in Beijing reported.

Wang, who was being probed over corruption charges, had been removed from his post, state-run People's Daily said. He is reported to have fled with 200 million yuan (US $ 31.5 million).

Commenting on Wang's flight to the US, another state-run newspaper Global Times criticised officials for not making his escape public.

"Because all the officials have kept silent over the issue, nobody can tell whether the news is true or not, including claims that Wang was a 'naked' (corrupt) official. Why didn't officials take the initiative to publish the news about Wang? Wang's flight is certainly a scandal. It would be good for the officials if such a scandal could be hidden, but that's hardly realistic," it said.

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"Some officials will try every means to cover up a piece of bad news for the sake of their own interests or their colleagues. But such acts shouldn't be encouraged," it said.

"A single piece of news, no matter how bad it is, will not overthrow China nowadays. Chinese officials should have the courage to take the initiative to admit these scandals and deal with them," the newspaper added.

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