Rocked last year by a public pension fund scandal, Shanghai wants to put the
past behind it.
The city's success as an economic hub depends largely on the integrity of its
public servants, Vice-Premier Huang Ju said yesterday.
"There must be an effective system to supervise those who
hold key positions in the government and prohibit collaboration between
officials and their business connections," he said.
|
Huang Ju (second right), a member of the Standing Committee of the
Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and a vice-premier, joins
the Shanghai delegation in discussing the government work report
yesterday. He is accompanied by Han Zheng (third from left), mayor of
Shanghai. Pang Xinglei |
In September 2006, central government investigators exposed that as much as
3.4 billion yuan ($445 million) of the city's public pension fund was loaned to
road and real estate development by a company of the municipal labor and social
security bureau.
Huang, Shanghai's former mayor, was absent from last year's NPC and CPPCC
sessions for health reasons but could attend this year.
The current Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng said Shanghai would draw its lessons
from the pension fund graft and do whatever necessary to build a clean
government.
Shanghai will have higher standards in its government's public service, which
must remain accountable and faithful to the rule of law, Han said in his speech
to his fellow delegates.
There will be more transparency to enable supervision from legislators, the
public, and the media, Han said.
Some senior officials, most notably the city's former Party secretary Chen
Liangyu, were involved in the corrupt deals last year and removed from office.
On January 28, Han announced to the municipal people's congress that all
misused pension fund and its interest, 3.7 billion yuan in total, had been
retrieved.
Most suspects involved in the misappropriation have been turned in to
judicial departments for investigation, with 11 under investigation in Shanghai
and a dozen of others dealt with by prosecutors in Jilin and Anhui provinces.
On February 28, nine former municipal officials were expelled from both
Communist Party of China and the Shanghai civil service staff, including Zhu
Junyi, former director of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Labour and Social
Security.
Han also reported that Shanghai was not "held back" economically by the
pension fund scandal.
(China Daily 03/08/2007 page5)
