China Removes Economic-Stats Chief Amid Discipline Probe
- Wang ousted days after anti-graft body announced investigation
- Scandal could further erode confidence in official statistics
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China removed Wang Baoan as statistics chief on unspecified allegations of corruption, underscoring the opacity of politics and government data that make it difficult for outsiders to understand the world’s second-largest economy.
Wang, 52, was sacked from the National Bureau of Statistics under suspicion of “severe disciplinary violations,” the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing the organizational department of the ruling Communist Party’s Central Committee. The decision to remove Wang from both his party and government posts came three days after the anti-graft body, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, announced the suspected violations, using the party’s usual euphemism for corruption.