China jails two for leaking secrets

October 24th, 2011 - 7:02 pm ICT by IANS  

Beijing, Oct 24 (IANS) Two officials have been jailed for divulging China’s confidential economic statistics, an official said Monday.

Sun Zhen, a former official from the National Bureau of Statistics, was sentenced to five years in prison for leaking 27 classified items between June 2009 and January this year, said Li Zhongcheng, a senior official, at a press conference Monday.

Wu Chaoming, a former research fellow from an institute under the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, was sentenced to six years in jail, Li said.

Wu was convicted of intentionally disclosing 25 classified items between January and June 2010, reported Xinhua.

Sun and Wu were convicted and sentenced by the Xicheng District People’s Court in Beijing. Neither of them lodged an appeal.

The statistics leaked by the two officials included those regarding China’s industrial added value output, gross domestic product (GDP), consumer price index (CPI), broad money supply (M2), and narrow measure of money supply (M1), Li said.

The leaked items are considered to be state secrets before they are officially released.

The illegal disclosure of the country’s economic statistics can disturb the market order and harm the interests of the country and its people, and China will continue its heavy-handed approach against such crimes, Li said.

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