Prosecutors in Shanghai have called on the government to provide better supervision of State-owned companies under their jurisdiction, the Shanghai Municipal Prosecutors' Office said yesterday.

 

Following five cases of corruption at a State-owned telecommunications company, the Shanghai Hongkou District Prosecutor's Office called on its governing ministry to appoint an independent official to supervise the firm, which it agreed to do.

 

Ju Guangjian, head of the crime prevention office on taking advantage of power, said the idea had been well received and was subsequently adopted by the district State-owned assets supervision and administration commission, which has applied it to all such enterprises in the Hongkou district.

 

In a similar case, the Shanghai Railway Prosecutor's office and Shanghai Xuhui district prosecutors' office asked for independent supervision of the construction of the Shanghai South Railway Station.

 

The idea was later applied to other major construction schemes, including the Yangshan Deepwater Port project.

 

Ju said he was pleased supervision has been improved.

 

"Following a suggestion by district prosecutors, the Pudong New Area district government appointed an official from the secretary of discipline inspection's office to supervise a new development zone," he said.

 

"It is good that independent officials are now supervising some key projects but more needs to be done."

 

Ju added that while a close eye was generally kept on government departments and State-owned companies that had a history of corruption, not enough was being done to prevent it happening elsewhere.

 

"Supervision of those in power, as a whole, is not good enough," he said.

 

Ju said corruption was most prevalent in departments and firms involved in sectors such as healthcare, construction and relocation, where both power and potential profits are at their highest.

 

He said several graft cases with a combined value of more than 400,000 yuan had been reported in the suburban Fengxian district involving hospital dental departments.

 

Also, this year alone, the Jinshan district prosecutors' office has dealt with 11 corruption cases involving relocation projects, he said.

 

In January 2006, prosecutors' offices in Shanghai introduced a records system for all those with convictions for offering bribes, Ju said. The information is available at all local prosecutors' offices to individuals and business representatives.

 

Ju said that on the first day of the information being made available, a representative of a local firm found the name of a potential business partner on the list and immediately severed ties with the man.

 

"In the future, even more records and information will be included in the system," Ju said.

 

(China Daily November 27, 2007)