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Credit cards for civil servants to spur transparency
(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2005-12-21 09:23
A new credit card that is tailored for public servants was issued to
employees of two government departments yesterday in an attempt to make spending
more transparent and reduce corruption.
The first batch of the cards, co-issued by the Bank of China and China
UnionPay, were given to employees of the Shanghai Foreign Affairs Office and the
Shanghai Municipal Exchange and Cooperation Office.
"The cards will streamline the reimbursement procedure for civil servants who
spend on duty," said Fan Xiangyu, a BOC official. "More crucially, they will
help boost budget supervision and counter corruption."
Government employees, especially those on business trips, often spend their
own money on work-related items and later file an expense report. Some officials
pad their expense reports with invoices for personal goods, a practice the cards
were designed to stop.
The new card allows people to spend as much as they like and the government
pay the bill later, making every transaction clear. Fan, however, didn't say how
many public servants received the cards yesterday or how many are expected to
get them in the future.
In May, nine government agencies, including the People's Bank of China, the
National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Public Security,
issued a circular promoting the use of bank cards among government bodies at all
levels to strengthen budget controls and clean up government.
"This special credit card does facilitate our business trip spending, but it
is not completely accepted throughout the country," said an official surnamed
Wang of the Shanghai Foreign Affairs Office.
He expressed his hope the card will become more widely accepted so that
government officials will be able to use them on all business trips.
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