'NAKED OFFICIAL': Zhang Shuguang (middle), a former senior official with the Ministry of Railways who is being probed for corruption, answers questions about China's high-speed trains on December 3, 2010 (CHEN SHUGEN)

Among the new additions to Chinese mainland residents' vocabulary in recent years, luoguan has caught great public attention for its message.

Luoguan, literally "naked officials," refers to officials whose spouses and children have migrated to another country.

A report released on February 20 by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) claims that "naked officials" are vulnerable to corruption.

The report says that most corrupt officials move their spouses and children, as well personal assets, abroad, in order to flee more easily once their wrong-doings are exposed.

"The Chinese Government already has data on so-called 'naked officials'," said Minister of Supervision Ma Wen on March 3 while attending this year's full session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in Beijing. But she did not disclose the number of such officials.

High corruption risk

The phrase "naked official" was coined in 2008 by Zhou Feng'an, a member of the CPPCC Jiangsu Provincial Committee, in an article he wrote about the corruption case of Pang Jiayu, former Vice Chairman of the CPPCC Shaanxi Provincial Committee. In June 2008, Pang was sentenced to 12 years in prison and confiscation of personal property on charges of bribery and dereliction of duty. Pang's wife and child emigrated to Canada in 2002.

Several high-ranking officials who have recently been investigated for corruption were also found to have moved their spouses and children overseas. Offenders often carefully plot their escape years before their crimes are uncovered.

In February 2011, Zhang Shuguang, then Director of the Transportation Bureau of the Ministry of Railways, was removed from his posts and probed for corruption. The bureau Zhang headed is in charge of procuring railway equipment, tendering, and high-speed train technology transfers.

Zhang had been living alone in Beijing while both his wife and daughter emigrated to the United States. It's reported that his wife Wang Xing owns three luxury mansions in Los Angeles and the couple had deposited a large sum of money in foreign banks.

The phenomenon of "naked officials" does not only exist in government departments, but also in state-owned enterprises.

Li Xiangdong, former General Manager of the Sichuan Wireless Music Base, a subsidiary of China Mobile, the country's largest wireless service provider in terms of subscriber numbers, disappeared on the evening of March 25, 2010, after meeting auditors from the National Audit Office.

Li was suspected to have fled overseas with millions of dollars of ill-gotten gains. Early in 2004, Li's wife Yao Hong quit her job as vice general manager of the Sichuan branch of China Telecom, China's third largest wireless service provider, and emigrated to Canada. In April 2010, procuratorial authorities of Sichuan Province said that Li was captured on March 31 by the police while on the run.

On July 28, 2010, Dong Yuejin, former Assistant to General Manager of the China International Telecommunication Construction Corp. was put on trial. Dong was accused of embezzling 580 million yuan ($92.05 million) of public funds and taking bribes. Dong's wife and son had already settled in the United States, allegedly taking the misappropriated funds with them.

Unofficial figures estimate that over the past three decades, more than 4,000 corrupt Chinese officials have fled to foreign countries, taking ill-gotten assets worth more than $50 billion out of the country.

Intensified oversight

In response to the "naked official" phenomenon, in July 2010 general offices of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council jointly issued a regulation on tightening oversight over civil servants whose spouses and children have foreign nationality or permanent residence.

The regulation requires officials above the deputy-county-head level in Party and government departments, public institutions, social groups, and state-owned and state-holding enterprises to report any changes in their spouses' and children's immigration status in foreign countries. They should also submit written accounts on all income and property owned by their spouse and children living overseas, and on any changes in their financial conditions.

The regulation says that when "naked officials" apply for private passports or are to be promoted, they should undergo examinations by discipline watchdogs.