In the wake of staggering revelations of corruption,
high-ranking government officials, senior managers of state-owned
enterprises (SOEs) and their families will undergo stiff checks
when they leave China.
A recent report by the Ministry of Commerce
estimates that 4,000 corrupt Chinese officials and SOE managers
have fled overseas in the past two decades, taking some US$50
billion out of the country. Many of them are thought to have first
sent their family members to study or live abroad before skipping
the country themselves.
As a result, the government will take a closer look at any of
their relatives heading overseas.
They will now be required to report their intentions before they
leave, says Li Xiaowei, a researcher with the Taiwan Democratic
Self-government League (TDSL).
He said the scheme currently applies to director-general-level
officials in central government departments, county-level officials
in local governments and SOE managers at the same levels. Violators
are subject to punishment.
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the
Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Ministry of Supervision
ordered a formal start of the pilot program in early July.
The action is based on a seven-point proposal submitted by the
TDSL, one of China's democratic parties, at the Second
Session of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's
Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the nation's top
political advisory body.
Professor Yang Haikun, vice chairman of the Administrative Law
Society of China, said imposing strict controls on overseas travel
of government officials and their family members will play a key
role in rooting out potential corruption.
He suggested the country's financial and banking authorities
reinforce their anti-laundering work to curb growing capital
outflow induced by corruption.
China's lax legal and management systems as well as the absence
of an efficient control system on foreign exchange movements are
blamed for the illegal capital outflow.
The Ministry of Commerce report said corrupt officials and some
private firms used companies registered in offshore finance
centers, such as the British Virgin Islands and the Bahamas, to
transfer capital illegally.
China has problems in extraditing officials suspected of
corruption because it has extradition treaties with few countries.
Although the nation is working to improve judicial cooperation with
other countries and the Interpol, only a small number of suspects
have been arrested and returned.
Most of the corrupt officials still at large abroad came from
financial and banking sectors and SOEs, according to a recent
article in China Comment magazine, published by the Xinhua
News Agency.
Low-ranking corrupt officials usually flee to neighboring
countries in Asia while higher-ranking ones often flee to developed
countries.
(China Daily August 20, 2004)