A link from South China Morning Post
Premier Wen Jiabao’s family members threatened legal action over a New York Times story claiming the top official’s relatives had amassed a fortune of at least $2.7 billion during the time of his leadership. In a rare public criticism of a foreign media report, two lawyers representing Wen’s family published a statement in the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong saying the “so-called ‘hidden riches’ of Wen Jiabao’s family members” do not exist. The statement also said they would “continue to make clarifications regarding untrue reports” by the New York Times and that the family reserved the right to hold the paper legally responsible. The allegations come less than two weeks before China begins a once-in-a-decade change of all of its top leaders.