*
The policy restricting the families of government officials: spouses, children or children’s spouses, from running private companies by the Shanghai Municipal Government, the equivalent of a provincial government, had Kennedy concerned for the Wu family business.
“Don’t worry Pat, my father is semi-retired,” Lili reassured him, “he plays what you might call a wise man role in Guangdong politics. In any case officials’ relatives have been banned from being involved in certain business activities for years. It’s just part of their new crackdown on corruption.”
“Doesn’t it worry you?”
“No. Why should it? Our family business goes back to the days before Mao. We have always avoided overt corruption. These laws are designed to prevent blatant corruption, kickbacks, misappropriation of funds, illegal building permits and that kind of thing. Our business is textiles, electronics and banking.”
Pat nodded. There was nothing illegal in banking.
The Shanghai Government had discretely posted a notice on its website forbidding relatives of officials from engaging in business in the city. It included relatives of senior officials in city departments, district and county governments, and courts. The same officials were already prohibited from being involved in commercial or industrial businesses activities.
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