Key central departments yesterday pledged to crack down on
bribe-taking by government officials. Joint action was promised by
22 cabinet-level departments at a meeting convened by the Central
Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Communist Party
of China.
The pledge was a response to recent calls by the nation's top
leaders, including President Hu Jintao
and Premier Wen
Jiabao, to stop officials abusing their power for gain.
From the second quarter of the year all government agencies will
step up efforts to "ferret out" and investigate bribe-takers, said
He Yong, deputy secretary of CCDI, indicating that the campaign
would last at least six months.
Individuals found to be involved in serious offences would be
severely punished, he told the meeting which was being attended by
members of anti-bribery task forces from government ministries as
well as officials of the National People's Congress.
The CCDI official urged all government agencies to come forward
with detailed anti-bribery campaigns before March 10, adding that
by March 20 all provincial governments were expected to report to
the central government on their own programs.
Vice-Minister of Health She Jing said that the anti-corruption
drive in the healthcare system would focus on the purchase and sale
of medicines.
Vice-Minister of Land and Resources Li Yuan said his ministry
would concentrate on corruption in land use and the transactions
involved, in mineral resource exploration and in the survey and
evaluation of land and resources.
Commercial enterprises and businesses gaining an unfair
advantage or favors through bribery widely existed in almost every
trade in China, especially among pharmaceutical companies and
property developers.
A recent central government document said commercial bribery was
widespread in six areas: construction, land use, property
transactions, distribution of medicine, government procurement and
development of land resources.
Earlier this year, a national anti-bribery group was set up,
headed by CCDI and comprising the Legislative Affairs Commission of
the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), the
Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procurator.
Last week, Premier Wen called on government agencies at all
levels to make stamping out corruption a priority this year.
Commercial bribery caused great economic losses to the country.
Statistics from the Ministry of Commerce reveal that in the
medicine trade alone as much as 772 million yuan (US$95 million)
could be involved in kickbacks in a year, accounting for almost 16
percent of the industry's revenue.
However, many cases of commercial bribery in industry have been
exposed recently.
In central China's
Hunan Province, Wang Daosheng, former deputy secretary-general
of the provincial government, was arrested for assisting a private
company buy a local state-owned medicine manufacturer for a low
price.
The ever tough business environment has also led to some foreign
companies becoming involved in bribery. ?
A Tianjin-based subsidiary of Diagnostic Products Co Ltd was
recently fined US$4.8 million by the US Department of Justice for
bribing doctors in China's state-owned hospitals to buy its medical
equipment and services last year.
Jing Yunchuan, a lawyer at Beijing-based Gaotong Law Service,
said the anti-bribery campaign will change the way many companies
and individuals do business.
It is recognized that bribery is an offence currently applicable
only to civil servants but sometimes it is family members or
friends taking the bribes,?Jing said. "So I suggest that the
law be revised to rectify that situation," Jing said.
(China Daily March 3, 2006)