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Former premier Wen Jiabao’s family has denied any investment links with the US billionaire. Photo: Xinhua

Exclusive | Family of ex-Chinese premier Wen Jiabao denies investing in offshore company with US hedge fund billionaire

The family of former Chinese premier Wen Jiabao has denied allegations that an American hedge fund billionaire invested in a company it also put cash into in an offshore tax haven.

The Voice of America said in a report in Chinese on its website that Tom Steyer had invested in the firm with ties to the Wen family that was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean.

A source close to the family told the South China Morning Post that the report was a groundless and malicious fabrication.

It also denied investing in offshore firms.

“The family of Wen Jiabao has no connection to Tom Steyer and his investment activities,” the source said. “The family of Wen Jiabao did not participate in investment activities through offshore companies. Wen’s family is outraged by the VOA’s rumours and preserves all rights to pursue the matter legally.”

Another report in the US-based news website the Washington Free Beacon said a company founded by Steyer invested in a Chinese billboard advertising company called Skyflying Media in 2008.

The money was channelled into another company called EMarket Holding Group Corp, the report said, citing information leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

The firm was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.

The investigative journalism consortium identified New Horizon’s other co-founder, Yu Jianming, as a director of EMarket, the report said.

The allegations come after the relatives of several top Chinese leaders have been accused of setting up firms in offshore tax havens.

The claims were made after millions of documents were leaked from Mossack Fonseca, one of the world’s biggest offshore tax law firms, in the so-called Panama Papers.

Relatives of at least nine present or former Politburo Standing Committee members in China have offshore holdings, according to the documents released so far.

Setting up offshore companies is not illegal in China.

Relatives of Wen Jiabao are among those included in the allegations.

Tom Steyer is the founder and former chief executive officer of Farallon Capital Management, a San Francisco-based investment firm.

He is a prominent donor to the Democratic Party in the US.

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