China suspended the “Business 20,” G20’s anti-corruption task force, amid the Panama Papers controversy that puts the country under pressure to share information on the role of paper companies in sealing away data about ill-gotten wealth.
Six individuals from the group told Reuters that China, G20's current president, has officially suspended the G20's anti-corruption group, an act they deemed to be a "setback" in global efforts to identify and punish shell companies who help the rich and powerful conceal their ill-gotten wealth.
China, among other countries, was dragged into the controversy that first appeared in the German news outlet Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
B20's Suspension
The Business 20, or the so-called B20, is G20's business outreach division that is comprised of top business firms from the country holding the presidency as well as civil and society groups.
They are tasked to come up with programs and policies that would increase the transparency level of businesses' financial structures.
Unfortunately, the group was scrapped earlier this year due to lack of participation from companies in China, according to Reuters' sources.
The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), the current head of the B20 group, failed to respond to the outlet's efforts to get an explanation on the suspension of the taskforce.
Meanwhile, China's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying assured that China is making efforts to improve the framework of the B20 "to promote an upright and clean business atmosphere."
"As the chair of this year's G20, China attaches high importance to G20 anti-corruption cooperation," Hua told the press during a regular press conference on Wednesday. "We will continue to host a series of meetings under the G20 anti-corruption task force and enhance practical cooperation among G20 members in anti-corruption."
Panama Papers
Since they hold the presidency over B20, China holds the power to expose corrupt officials in both the civil and private sectors.
However, the reluctance of Chinese firms to participate in the task force puts the data leaked via the Panama Papers into focus yet again.
In fact, there had been reports like the one from BBC News that revealed how the information encrypted in the controversial documents as well as online discussions about it had been censored in the country.
According to Fortune, the hidden wealth of some of the Chinese leaders had been a common knowledge for people not living in China, but the country appears to be bent on making sure that their citizens have no knowledge about it.
"The news could give Xi's political opponents within the Communist Party leverage to demand changes to his monopolization of power if evidence builds that his allies are involved in the same questionable behavior as those targeted in his three-year anti-corruption campaign," the outlet explained.