June 23, 2008 |
Ladies and Gentlemen, Good afternoon! First, please allow me to express my sincere thanks for the attention and support the news media has been giving to the supervision on the management and use of the quake rescue and relief funds and goods since the occurrence of the 8.0-magnitude Wenchuan earthquake. As arranged by the Information Office of the State Council, today we are here to release the relevant information in this aspect. Since the occurrence of the 8.0-magnitude Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan province on May 12, large quantities of funds and goods allocated by the Central and local governments and great contributions and donations from various social sectors at home and abroad have provided important material support to the quake rescue and relief work. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council have attached great importance to the management and use of those quake rescue and relief funds and goods, about which the community is also very concerned. Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao, He Guoqiang and other central leaders have made a series of important directives in this regard, requiring all those concerned to ensure that all the quake relief funds and goods are used on the quake victims in the quake-hit areas and the quake relief work is clean and honest and a clear and assured account is presented to the people. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC (CCDI) and the Ministry of Supervision have conscientiously performed their duties, giving full play to their role in organizing and coordinating efforts to supervise and inspect the quake rescue and relief work. Our work is mainly focused on the following areas. I. Promoting the establishment of a supervision and inspection system. The CCDI, the Ministry of Supervision, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, and the National Audit Office have established a communication and coordination mechanism to supervise and urge the quake-hit areas and the relevant departments to establish their own supervision groups and working mechanisms. With efforts, Sichuan , Gansu and Shaanxi Provinces have so far established leading groups in charge of supervising and inspecting the quake rescue and relief funds and goods with the Secretary of the Provincial Disciplinary Inspection Commission of the CPC as the group leader. Corresponding working groups have also been set up in the governments at different levels in the quake-stricken areas. The relevant ministries and commissions of the State Council and some non-quake-hit provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have as well established leading organs to strengthen the supervision on the management of the quake rescue and relief funds and goods from both the government and society. An overall supervision and inspection network from the Central to the local governments has initially come into shape with relevant leaders in charge at different levels. II. Formulation and improvement of relevant rules and regulations. On May 20, the CCDI and the Ministry of Supervision, along with the relevant ministries and commissions, issued the Notice on Strengthening the Supervision and Management of the Quake Rescue and Relief Funds and Goods. The Regulations on the Punishment of Acts in Violation of Laws and Discipline in the Management and Use of the Quake Rescue and Relief Funds and Goods was published by the CCDI and the Ministry of Supervision on May 29, which lays stricter disciplinary requirements for the supervision and management of the quake rescue and relief funds and goods. At the same time, cooperating with other ministries and commissions, the CCDI and the Ministry of Supervision have formulated and promulgated four urgently-needed regulatory documents. Since then, based on their respective situations, the local discipline inspection and supervision organs in some quake-hit areas have coordinated relevant corresponding departments and issued a series of supporting rules and regulations. The State Council also published some relevant documents, such as the Regulations on Post-Wenchuan Earthquake Reconstruction, guidelines on restoring production in the quake-hit areas, guidelines on the use of the funds contributed and donated for the quake rescue and relief work, and plans for post-quake reconstruction in the form of counterpart assistance (one non-quake-hit province supporting one quake-hit area). Those timely-issued and clearly-formulated regulations and documents have provided a sound foundation for regulating and supervising the management and use of the quake rescue and relief funds and goods. III. Strict implementation of supervision and inspection: On May 30, two inspection groups organized by the CCDI and the Ministry of Supervision, with the participation of some specially-invited supervisors, started their inspection tour to the relevant central departments, the people's associations and the social organizations which have received social contributions and donations, and the quake-stricken areas in Sichuan Province . The inspection group stationed in Beijing has conducted inspection work on 9 central departments, including the National Headquarters of Red Cross Society of China and China Charity Federation and the 12 foundations under them. As a result, a basic knowledge was gained as for how many funds and goods they had received from society and how those funds and goods were distributed. The inspection group to Sichuan Province has not only conducted inspection on the management of the quake relief funds and goods in twenty provincial departments, but also inspected nine towns and some villages in six seriously-quake-hit counties to keep track of the distribution and use of the quake relief funds and goods. According to our inspection, generally speaking, a good job has been done in raising, allocating, distributing and using the quake relief funds and goods, which have been kept in special accounts and used exclusively for quake relief work. The management and use of those funds and goods are open and transparent, with no serious problems discovered. Of course, some management irregularities also existed, such as the lack of complete formalities and detailed accounts. Some departments and local governments neither kept a clear account of the funds and goods contributed and donated for the quake rescue and relief work, nor did they thoroughly carry out the relevant subsidy policies or assess the disaster accurately. The discipline inspection organs of the quake-stricken provinces have also sent special groups to supervise and inspect the management and use of the quake rescue and relief funds and goods. In addition, Sichuan Province even appointed 308 supervisors from the public to supervise the whole process of how the quake rescue and relief funds and goods are managed and used. IV. Effective Investigation of discipline-breaching and law-breaking cases. The quake relief funds are the life-saving capital for the quake victims and for their resettlement. No one can spend them otherwise. The Regulations on the Punishment of Acts in Violation of Laws and Discipline in the Management and Use of the Quake Rescue and Relief Funds and Goods published by the CCDI and the Ministry of Supervision serves as a power line, which nobody dares to touch. In order to facilitate the public's report on any violations of laws and discipline, the CCDI and the Ministry of Supervision and the discipline inspection organs of the quake-hit areas have set up hotlines to exclusively deal with offence reports concerning the management and use of the quake rescue and relief funds and goods. Some quake-hit counties have dispatched special inspectors to tour around to directly handle offense reports and visits from the public. By June 20, the CCDI, the Ministry of Supervision and the provincial discipline inspection organs of Sichuan , Gansu and Shaanxi provinces had received 10804 offense reports and complaints from the people, most of whom were seeking help, inquiring policies and giving suggestions. Among these offense reports, there are 1178 involving acts in violation of laws and discipline and 1007 of them have been dealt with. Quite a number of the reports exposed the misuse of relief camps and food at the beginning of the quake rescue and relief work; some revealed the slow reaction and poor ability of a few cadres. Party disciplinary measures and administrative punishment have been imposed on 43 violators. Sichuan Province has already held two press conferences with some of the cases exposed. The quake rescue and relief work has now entered into the new period of early preparation for the resettlement of quake victims and post-quake restoration and reconstruction. The task is even more arduous. More quake relief funds and goods from the government and society will be used on the quake-hit areas in a more focused way. In order to effectively manage and use these funds and goods, we shall pay more attention to the following areas. Firstly, the implementation of rules and regulations already issued should be further enhanced. Relevant departments and local governments will be urged to strictly carry out the rules and regulations concerning the management and use of the quake rescue and relief funds and goods without any compromise or alternative. At the same time, throughout the supervision process, we should try every means to prevent any potential violations and ensure that the funds and goods are used for the post-quake construction. New rules and regulations should be formulated timely in accordance with the latest circumstance to prevent new problems from arising. Secondly, we shall make greater efforts to investigate cases in violation of laws and discipline. Problems reported by the people and the media should be probed into thoroughly. Once discovered, every violation such as taking graft, embezzling, withholding and skimping the quake rescue and relief funds and goods will be severely punished with no appeasement. Cases suspected of constituting a crime shall be transferred to the judicial department for prosecution. The media is welcome to impose stricter supervision and provide any valuable clues. Thirdly, we shall strengthen our supervision and inspection work. All the supervision resources, such as the supervisory and auditing organs, will be combined to form a stronger power to target key areas, key departments and key procedures in the quake rescue and relief work. We must ensure that every detail is under our supervision. What's more, we should make the supervision and management work more transparent and give full play to the public's supervisory power to ensure a clean and honest use of the quake relief funds and goods. In addition, relevant departments and local governments should be urged to faithfully, diligently and efficiently perform their duties in solving problems concerning the people's immediate interests, such as the construction of resettlement houses, price control, food and drug quality, and production safety. The use of public funds on feasting and traveling should be checked, extravagance and waste be prohibited, administrative expenditures be economized to ensure that more public funds can be used on the post-quake reconstruction, on solving the difficulties the people are faced with and on where they are under the most urgent need of economic and social development.
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