是貪腐罪證還是含混其詞的攪混水？

對Bavid Barboza 報道的一點質疑。

But now 90, the prime minister’s mother, Yang Zhiyun, not only left poverty behind, she became outright rich, at least on paper, according to corporate and regulatory records. Just one investment in her name, in a large Chinese financial services company, had a value of $120 million five years ago, the records show.

The details of how Ms. Yang, a widow, accumulated such wealth are not known, or even if she was aware of the holdings in her name. But it happened after her son was elevated to China’s ruling elite, first in 1998 as vice prime minister and then five years later as prime minister.

這篇報道里打頭的就是溫母的1億2千萬美元的在某中國大型金融機構的投資。報道者也同時說：“at least on paper,”溫母是富有那麼多財富。而對於一個90歲老人是如何擁有這麼多財富的，作者也同樣說：“or even if she was aware of the holdings in her name.”用中國說書人的話講，這叫“賣關子”。

Many relatives of Wen Jiabao, including his son, daughter, younger brother and brother-in-law, have become extraordinarily wealthy during his leadership, an investigation by The New York Times shows. A review of corporate and regulatory records indicates that the prime minister’s relatives, some of whom have a knack for aggressive deal-making, including his wife, have controlled assets worth at least $2.7 billion.

緊接着在這之後，Bavid Barboza 就說，溫家族控制了27億美元的財富。這裡的“have controlled”一詞用得真好。既不說many relatives of Wen 是如何控制這些財富的，也不說這27億美元當中究竟有多少是屬於relatives of Wen。

… … …

In the case of Mr. Wen’s mother, The Times calculated her stake in Ping An — valued at $120 million in 2007 — by examining public records and government-issued identity cards, and by following the ownership trail to three Chinese investment entities. The name recorded on his mother’s shares was Taihong, a holding company registered in Tianjin, the prime minister’s hometown.

經過若干段的敘述後，溫母的這1億2千萬美元的投資有了交待。原來，是泰鴻操作的。那麼，這樣的1億2千萬，究竟是屬於泰鴻呢，還是屬於溫母呢？這個交待並不明確。

我們在反過頭來看那個27億。如果Bavid Barboza 所說的27億就是這樣累計出來的，那麼《紐約時報》這篇Bavid Barboza的報道難道不是忽悠嗎？