With new ways to make money come new means of corruption. So it
has proven in 21st century China, where the wider ownership of
cars, stock and property has provided corrupt officials with fresh
opportunities for graft.
But the fight against bribery has become more sophisticated,
too, and over the past year, it has expanded from punishment to
prevention. There is a new anti-corruption body with wide-ranging
powers, while a series of directives on graft have refined the
definition of bribery.
The result has been a series of high-ranking officials sent to
jail -- and in some cases, to their deaths -- to public
satisfaction.
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the
Communist Party of China (CPC), which initiates investigations of
alleged corrupt officials, last year issued a crucial regulation
that clarifies the "new forms" of bribery.
These include many imaginative and lucrative arrangements that
don't necessarily involve a pile of cash changing hands: accepting
financial instruments as gifts; buying real estate or cars at
artificially low prices; laundering bribes by gambling; doing
favors in return for their own post-retirement jobs, and seeking
gains through specially-related persons.
The regulations then led to a judicial explanation that has
helped convict officials who take disguised bribes. One such case
was that of the former transport chief of eastern Zhejiang
Province, Zhao Zhanqi, who used his position to benefit his
mistress. He was sentenced life in prison in July for receiving 6.2
million yuan (840,000 U.S. dollars) in bribes, including 550,000
yuan that the mistress received. HIGH EXPECTATIONS FOR NEW
ANTI-GRAFT BODY
Expectations are also high for the the National Bureau of
Corruption Prevention (NCBP), the first department of this kind in
China, which was established in September last year.
Its founding showed that the country's anti-graft system has
shifted from penalties and crackdowns to a comprehensive
approach.
Chinese President Hu Jintao confirmed this in his keynote speech
at the 17th CPC National Congress, the most important political
document of the year. "We will fight corruption in a comprehensive
way, address both its symptoms and root causes and combine
punishment with prevention, with the emphasis on prevention," he
said.
The NCBP is only a few months old and low key but its role has
attracted much attention.
Although it is not involved in the investigation of individual
cases, the bureau has the right to collect and analyze information
from sources including banks, land records, medical facilities and
telecommunications, and share it with prosecutors, courts and
police in a bid to monitor the finances of officials and detect
suspicious behavior, according to the statement issued when it was
established.
It will also evaluate loopholes in new policies that may give
rise to corruption, study countermeasures, inspect corruption
prevention work at various levels, conduct pilot projects and
develop a set of standards to judge whether a department or an
official is clean.
People are curious about how it will function and what
difference it will bring to the anti-corruption system.
"I think this will be a tough job, even tougher than
investigating a high-profile official involved in a corruption
scandal," said Professor Ren Jianmin, from the School of Public
Policy and Management at Tsinghua University.
The work of closing loopholes and reforming policies will meet
with resistance as it might harm the interests of some powerful
people, he said. TRIUMPH OVER CORRUPTION
To see corrupt heavyweights fall has encouraged many, and there
have been numerous cases in the past year.
On Dec. 28, He Minxu, former vice-governor of eastern Anhui
Province, was sentenced to a death with a two-year reprieve for
taking bribes of 8.41 million yuan (about 1.12 million U.S.
dollars) from 27 organizations and individuals, the latest senior
official to be brought down in a corruption scandal.
The most striking case was that of Zheng Xiaoyu, former director
of China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), who was
executed in July, the fourth senior official of his rank to be
sentenced to death since 2000. Zheng was found guilty of taking
6.49 million yuan in bribes and dereliction of duty.
His dereliction of duty undermined the efficacy of China's drug
monitoring and supervision, endangered public life and health and
had a very negative social impact, said the Supreme People's Court
when approving the capital penalty.
The case of former Shanghai Party head Chen Liangyu has moved to
a new stage. He was expelled from the CPC and dismissed from all
government posts on July 26 and remains in jail awaiting trial.
According to the investigation by the CCDI, Chen misused his
power by supporting the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Labor and
Social Security in granting huge loans from the Shanghai social
security fund to his favorite private companies.
He also helped private companies purchase shares of state-owned
enterprises, which caused great damage to public assets.
He Guoqiang, the CCDI head, warned last Friday that vigilant
efforts to crack down on corruption will continue and those found
guilty will face punishment.
The Party would continue its efforts to deal with corruption
cases and sternly investigate and punish criminal cases involving
"collusion between officials and merchants, trading of money and
sex with official power, and severe infringement of people's
interests," he said.
There is no doubt that the fight against corruption will stay
high on the country's agenda.
At a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of
the CPC last month, the leadership pledged to give such work a
"more prominent place" on its agenda.
There is certainly a strong concern among citizens. Many in
China were so enthusiastic in logging on to a new web site run by
the NCBP to express their opinions that they crashed the site. They
are looking for more new policies and measures to prevent and
punish corruption from the plenary session of the CPC Central
Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), which is to be held
later this month.
(Xinhua News Agency January 5, 2008)