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Policies on officials' asset reporting to be tightened

By Xie Yu (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-12 07:46

More detailed and coercive policies requiring officials to declare their assets are expected to form the basis of the three-day plenary session of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) that kicked off in Beijing yesterday.

During the last plenary session of the Communist Party of China's internal anti-graft body, it was decided that authorities would ask senior officials to report their properties, investments and jobs held by their spouses and children, and strengthen supervision of officials who have family living overseas.

Seven areas in China, including Altay in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Cixi in Zhejiang province, and Pudong in Shanghai, have already asked officials to declare this information.

Statistics from the Ministry of Commerce in 2004 show that 4,000 officials have fled the country in the past 30 years with more than $50 billion.

There are no figures available on how many of those officials have been arrested.

Ye Duchu, a senior professor at the Central Party School, said the CPC has started adopting resolute measures in recent years to "prevent" corruption and punish offenders.

"Their efforts are gradually bearing fruit," he said.

"I am confident that results from this plenary session will be encouraging," Ye said.

Last year, 15 provincial and ministerial officials were sacked for corruption.

Judges from the country's Supreme People's Court and lower-level courts will work together with anti-corruption supervisors "to better combat corruption and redress injustice in a timely manner", Xinhua reported.

Fourteen full-time supervisors were placed in the Supreme People's Court (SPC) to oversee judges and other court staff yesterday.

According to Xinhua, 24,521 anti-corruption supervisors had been placed in 2,392 courts across the country.