Just days after Shanghai's pension fund scandal snowballed to
net the top state statistician, China's president and key judicial
officials took advantage of an international anti-graft conference
to demonstrate their determination to fight corruption.
Altogether 67,505 government officials have been punished in
China for corruption in less than four years since 2003, with more
than 17,505 prosecuted and sanctioned in the first eight months
of2006 alone.
Revealing the latest procuratorate statistics, Wang Zhenchuan,
deputy procurator-general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, on
Monday said China's anti-graft fight had made progress. "With
improvements to the graft prevention system, corruption is on the
decline in many sectors."
But he did not provide details of any corruption case when
addressing hundreds of representatives from international
anti-corruption bodies at the five-day Beijing conference that will
last till Thursday.
With Chinese authorities hosting the First Annual Conference and
General Meeting of the International Association of Anti-Corruption
Authorities (IAACA), Chinese President Hu Jintao attended the
conference opening on Sunday and delivered a keynote speech.
"We treat the fight against corruption as a priority, a pressing
task that has great influence on the overall development of the
country, and which affects the fundamental interests of the Chinese
people, equality, justice, social harmony and stability," Hu
said.
Hu's words came amid the spiraling Shanghai social security fund
scandal which brought down Chen Liangyu, Party Secretary of
Shanghai and a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist
Party Central Committee.
Chen is the highest ranking official to fall in corruption
probes in the past decade. Late last week the high-level graft
probe prompted the downfall of Qiu Xiaohua, director of the
National Bureau of Statistics.
"We are stepping up efforts to improve the rule of law and
create a culture of clean and honest government, while
strengthening the supervision of power," Hu said at the opening
ceremony of the conference.
China has set up anti-graft bureaus in procuratorates at all
levels, and employs 36,000 people in its anti-corruption
efforts.
The country's penal code specifies 55 crimes relating to
government positions and Chinese procuratorates each year probe
nearly 40,000 alleged corruption cases.
"A clean government and the rule of law are two goals China has
long been pursuing," Jia Chunwang, director of the Supreme People's
Procuratorate, or top prosecutor, said in the speech he delivered
to the conference on Monday.
Jia said corruption, if not controlled, would undermine
democracy and the rule of law and engender an increase in organized
crime and terrorism.
He said his office was willing to seek international assistance
in combating graft and "all kinds of cooperation are welcome
provided they are effective."
Analysts said international cooperation was crucial for China
which is trying to net dozens of crooked officials who fled
overseas ahead of or during investigations.
Police records show that 500 people suspected of serious
economic crimes, mostly corrupt officials, live at large in foreign
countries. The money involved in their cases adds up to a stunning
70 billion yuan (US$8.75 billion).
Official corruption has been on the rise since China began
economic reform in late 1970s. As they saw other people extract big
profits from the economic boom, some ordinary Chinese started to
become cynical. Materialism became a new value.
Within an imperfect legal framework, Chinese officials
frequently abused their power for personal gain. They bought
themselves luxurious houses, sedans, some kept mistresses, and many
others put their family members and friends in lucrative
businesses.
"Prevention is crucial," said Antonio Maria Costa, executive
director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, at the ongoing
conference, adding that public officials should be forced to
disclose their annual earnings and financial assets and governments
should routinely investigate obvious discrepancies between reported
income and extravagant life styles.
In addition, countries need to combat corruption with effective
law enforcement. Influence peddling must be made a criminal
offence, along with the abuse of official functions and illicit
enrichment, he said.
He urged the establishment of a structured global monitoring
mechanism to ensure that international anti-corruption commitments
are being implemented.?
(Xinhua News Agency October 24, 2006)