CHINA – Chinese insurer takes legal action

Ping An Insurance (Group) Co of China Ltd has threatened to take legal action against the New York Times for reports that suggest that Wen Jiabao’s relatives had accumulated massive wealth, largely through holdings in the firm. 

A written statement said, “Recent media coverage related to the company contained serious inaccuracies, facts being distorted and taken out of context, as well as flawed logic.” 

The report added that “It will take appropriate legal action commensurate with the damage and adverse impact the media reports have caused to the company.” Ping An did not name the New York Times Co in the statement, but a Ping An spokesman told Reuters that it referred to a New York Times article published over the weekend. 

The New York Times issued a report in October, citing corporate and regulatory records that said Wen’s family had amassed massive wealth during his time in power, the biggest source of which was large stakes in Ping An. 

A follow-up report said that in 1999, Ping An chairman Ma Mingzhe wrote to Wen ( who was vice premier at the time) and another official, imploring them to relax rules aimed at containing risk in the financial sector that would have required a breakup of the company. 

The Times said it was not clear whether Wen had personally intervened on behalf of Ping An’s request for a waiver, or if Wen was aware of the stakes held by his relatives. 

Lawyers representing the family of Premier Wen have rejected claims by the Times which states that relatives had accumulated at least USD 2.7 billion.