Anti-corruption task remains tough
- Source: Global Times
- [05:19 January 08 2010]
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By Song Shengxia
The number of government officials who embezzled more than 1 million yuan ($146,488) and who were arrested and punished rose by 19 percent during the first 11 months of last year, compared to the same period in 2008, according to figures released by the top discipline watchdog Thursday.
Chinese experts attribute the rise to loopholes in both the administrative system and the reinforced anti-corruption drive.
During the first 11 months of 2009, the discipline inspection authorities received more than a million tip-offs of alleged corruption cases, in which about 140,000 of the cases led to convictions. More than 106,600 officials were punished by Party or administrative rules, and 4.44 billion yuan was recovered, according to data released by the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) at a news briefing Thursday.
Some 3,700 officials at county level and above were punished for graft last year, an increase of 10.8 percent over the previous year, while the number of corrupt officials punished for embezzling more than 1 million yuan rose by 19.2 percent.
Media reports indicated that at least 15 governor- and ministerial-level officials, a record high in 30 years, were brought down last year, many for allegedly trading their power for money in the country's economic boom.
Kang Huijun, a former senior official of Shanghai's Pudong district, was given a life sentence in February for accepting bribes of 5.9 million yuan and for his role in illicit property deals.
In December and also in Shanghai, Cai Zhiqiang, former head of Putuo district, was arrested on charges of taking "huge amounts" in bribes, but the exact figure embezzled was not disclosed.
The disciplinary authority found 13,858 corruption cases related to commercial bribery, involving 329 billion yuan in embezzled funds, and over 10,000 cases related to pollution.
The CCDI also made efforts to dig out official malpractice that fueled public anger and triggered violent mass protests.
A protest in 2008 by more than 500 residents in Menglian, Yunan Province, in which two protesters were shot dead by police, resulted in the trial last June of two officials who were sentenced to 12 and 13 years respectively for taking bribes of up to 470,000 yuan and 536,000 yuan respectively.
"The rise of the figure shows the widespread corruption and that the government still faces significant challenges in containing it," Wang Yukai, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Governance, told the Global Times.
He envisioned more corruption would result from the large-scale infrastructure projects financed by the government's 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus plan.
"Excessive power concentration and lack of an efficient supervision system create room for officials to abuse its power while circumventing the rules," he said.
