China’s anti-corruption authorities condemned Canada-based Chinese pop singer Wanting Qu following her annual social media plea on behalf of her mother, who was detained six years ago on suspicion of embezzling 350 million yuan (US$52 million) but has received no verdict.

Qu Zhang Mingjie, a former Harbin city official, was taken away in September 2014. She was accused of bribery and abuse of power and has been detained since then. Her case is still being processed.

Qu makes a plea for her mother every year on China’s microblogging site Weibo, but she has never managed to impress netizens, who accused her of living a lavish life in Canada paid for with the bribes from her mother.

Her most recent post again drew attacks, not only from netizens but also from the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, which published an article on its website stating that being “outside of China is not equivalent to [being] outside of the law,” adding that transferring money obtained from illegal means abroad only brings another criminal charge.

The article cited a statement from the commission’s head of research saying that officials must declare all kinds of funds deposited abroad, regardless of whether the money was earned legally or whether it was deposited by the officials or an authorized person.

The transfer by officials of money abroad must be strictly monitored, the article said, adding that officials' spouses and children should also be watched. Financial institutions should also report to the authorities if they observed any unusual transfer activities, the article said.

Frequent inspection of officials must be implemented, the article said, citing Deng Lianfan, Vice President of the China Association for Integrity and Legal System Research.

The article also cited the case of the 11 Hong Kong and mainland officials, including the city’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam, who were sanctioned by the United States following the implementation of the national security law. It praised Luo Huining, the head of the Hong Kong Liaison Office, who is among those sanctioned, for his “courageous” response — made simpler by the fact that he owns no assets overseas.

Luo said in August that the U.S. sanctions were ridiculous, deriding as clown-like the Trump administration’s measures and offering to hand over US$100 to Washington so that it had something to freeze.

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