The corrupt officials uprooted by China's new leadership
- By Chen Xia
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E-mail China.org.cn, September 4, 2013
On September 1 2013, the Communist Party of China (CPC) anti-corruption watchdog announced investigations into Jiang Jiemin, head of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC), making him the ninth senior official to be investigated for disciplinary violations after the 18th National Congress of the CPC, in addition to Bo Xilai and Liu Zhijun, who were investigated before Nov. 2012 and stood trial recently.
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Jiang Jiemin: Chairman of State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council [File photo] |
Since the Party leadership reshuffle last year, the CPC has vowed to crack down corruption and petty officialdom, targeting both "tigers" and "flies" – powerful leaders and lowly bureaucrats. The frequent investigation of senior officials marks a significant effort by the top leadership.
Of the nine senior officials investigated after November 2012, the oldest was Guo Yongxiang, former vice governor of Sichuan Province, who was born in 1949, while the youngest was Wang Suyi, former head of the United Front Work Department under the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region's CPC Committee, who was born in 1961.
Eight of the nine officials climbed their career ladder from the bottom. For instance, Li Chuncheng, former vice secretary of the CPC Committee of Sichuan Province, was originally a teacher. It took him 33 years to reach a vice-ministerial level post. It took Jiang Jiemin, originally a technician at the Shengli Oilfield in Shandong Province, almost three decades to get his final job.
Jiang Jiemin was removed from office on September 3, 2013. So far, the specific reason for investigating Jiang remains unknown, but according to previous records, most of the corrupt officials have been involved in embezzlement, bribery and abuse of power.
A case in point was Liu Tienan, former deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). Investigations found that he had kept two mistresses and had several bank accounts with tens of millions of yuan in deposit.
Most investigations resulted from public tip-offs. In the case of Liu Tienan, media reports showed that a group of retired high officials with the NDRC reported Liu's corruption to the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).
After the CCDI accepts a report, it must carry out several procedures, including a preliminary survey and formal investigation, before eventually sending the suspect to court. In Liu's case, the CCDI spent almost a year talking to reporters and checking the validity of the tip-offs.
Clues to corruption cases usually come from public tip-offs, official inspection or an undercover probe. Public tip-offs are the highest source of information, accounting for 41.8 percent of formal investigations in 2012.
After accepting a public tip-off, the CCDI will check to see if it requires investigation. Cases that cause strong public resentment, especially those reported jointly by a group of people, are investigated by CCDI and the rest are transferred to local discipline watchdogs.
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