Shanghai's mayor Han Zheng said Sunday the city has retrieved every cent that was siphoned off the Shanghai social security fund for illicit loans and investments last year.

 

"We have secured retrieval in full amount the embezzled social security fund in line with relevant laws and regulations," Han said in his government work report to the ongoing municipal parliament session.

 

Following last year's pension scandal that involved 3.2 billion yuan (US$407.6 million) and brought down Shanghai's former party chief Chen Liangyu, the city had set up a working panel to help the central government investigators trace the misappropriated fund, said Han, also acting secretary of the Shanghai municipal committee of the Communist Party of China.

 

He said Shanghai has a lesson to learn from the pension scandal. "It revealed systemic defects and management loopholes.

 

We must take the problems seriously, draw a lesson and improve our work."

 

In the wake of the scandal, he said the Shanghai government has given top priority to the fight against corruption, tightened supervision of officials and improved transparency. "We have to strengthen the supervision system, follow closely established rules and procedures and check power abuse to prevent recurrence of such scandals," said Han.

 

The Shanghai scandal last September also involved former top statistician Qiu Xiaohua and dozens of city officials and business people.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 28, 2007)