SHANGHAI JUDGE SLAMS AGENCIES
By Geoff Dyer in Shanghai
Thursday, June 21, 2007
State-owned companies and government agencies in Shanghai misappropriated Rmb6.3bn ($828m) for illegal investment in the stock market over the past three years, according to a senior judge at the city's highest court.
Qi Qi, deputy director of the Shanghai High People's Court, said the diversion of funds into equities was the result of weak controls over public spending and could potentially undermine confidence in the stock market.
“This is becoming a major threat to the stability of the market and to investment funds,” he said. “Moreover, the volatility of stocks can cause huge losses for public finances.”
His outspoken comments are the most authoritative confirmation yet that the boom in the mainland stock market over the past two years is not just the result of funds coming from millions of new individual investors but also reflects large speculative investments by different branches of the government.
Chinese share prices are up 60 per cent this year, on top of a 130 per cent gain in 2006.
Fraser Howie, co-author of a book on the Chinese stock market, says undisclosed public investment in equities could be as high as $125bn, although it is impossible to prove the figures.
Although many of these investments may have generated significant profits, economists fear that a substantial fall in the stock market could lead to calls on the authorities to bail out different government units.
“There has not been any effective mechanism in the country to supervise the operation and management of public funds, and as a matter of fact it is difficult to curb their malpractices,” Mr Qi said. He said agencies involved included those responsible for education and pensions.
The judge said the figures were based on an analysis of 105 embezzlement cases that had been accepted by Shanghai's courts between 2003 and 2006. About Rmb4.1bn of the funds illegally invested in equities had come from 69 different state-owned companies.
--------------------------------------------------------------------上海国有部门违规动用巨资炒股
英国《金融时报》杰夫•代尔(Geoff Dyer)上海报道
2007年6月21日 星期四
上海市高级人民法院(Shanghai High People's Court)副院长齐奇表示，过去三年中，上海某些国有企业和政府机构违规动用了63亿元人民币，违反国家政策，在股市进行投资。
齐奇指出，资金流向股市是公共支出控制不力的结果，并且可能会削弱股市的投资者信心。
他表示，这个问题正在成为市场稳定和投资资金的一大威胁，而且股市的波动可能导致公共财政出现巨大损失。
他直言不讳，迄今为止最权威的评论，说明中国内地股市过去两年的繁荣不只是因为数百万新的散户投资者带来了资金，也反映出各个政府部门进行了大规模投机性投资。
继2006年上涨130%之后，中国股市今年又上涨了60%。
曾经著书分析中国股市的候伟(Fraser Howie)表示，在股市上，没有公开的公共投资可能高达1250亿美元，不过，不太可能证实这些数字。
尽管有很多投资可能已经取得了巨额利润，但经济学家担心，股市大跌可能会导致不同政府部门呼吁当局为它们纾困。
齐奇表示：“由于这类敏感资金的运作和管理没有形成完善的监管制度，客观上对其行为难以进行有效制约。”他指出，涉案机构中包括那些负责教育和社保基金的部门。
这位法官表示，63亿元人民币这一数字，是根据2003年至2006年间上海法院审理的105起盗用资金案分析得出的。在非法进行证券投资的资金中，大约有41亿元人民币来自于69个不同的国有企业。
