According to central Commission for Discipline Inspection, many corrupt officials began breaking the law and violating Party disciplines when they were the heads of lower-ranking agencies. In some provinces over half of the senior officials caught by the anti-corruption campaign were promoted despite being suspected of being involved in corruption previously. Comments:

When corrupt officials are promoted to higher positions, they will in turn promote those who were involved in their corruption, thus ruining the political ecology in the long run. One of the main causes is that local Party and government chiefs have too big a say in deciding whom to promote, and sometimes they make decisions themselves, ignoring all other advices. It is necessary to limit such a monopoly over power and allow ordinary people to express their objections to candidates for promotion, so that even if a leading official is corrupt, he or she will have difficulty in promoting his corrupt subordinates.

china.com.cn, May 12