Chinese officials arrested for leaking data

Two Chinese officials from the People’s Bank of China and the National Bureau of Statistics were jailed after leaking economic data to securities brokerages, BBC reports.

Wu Chaoming was sentenced to six years and Sun Zhen was given five years after leaking information that gives traders an unfair advantage by helping them to anticipate market moves and profiting from it, BBC reports.

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"The leaking of national macroeconomic data harms economic operations, prevents fair market competition and affects government credibility, thereby causing heavy losses to the interests of the country, society and individuals," said Li Zhongcheng, deputy director general of the national prosecutor's office, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports.

The minor officials leaked information regarding gross domestic product, consumer prices and money supplies to securities industry employees between June 2009 and January 2011, the Wall Street Journal reports.

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Chaoming was charged with leaking 25 items of classified statistical data over 224 occasions to 15 securities industry employees and Zhen with leaking a total of 27 items of classified statistical data, WSJ reports.

The men exchanged information for payments and favors from brokerages. Four other securities industry officials are being held for questioning, the Financial Times reports. This however, is nothing new for China, the world’s third largest equities market. It is common for data regarding securities brokerages to be sold in the country, the FT reports.