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January 15, 2016

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Few severe violations

CHINA’S top disciplinary body issued a communique yesterday that identified corrupt officials in key posts as priority targets for its graft-busting campaign.

It was issued on the last day of the sixth plenary session of the 18th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China, which began on Tuesday.

It said in the general work requirements for 2016 that those who hold important posts and are likely to be further promoted but have not stepped back from their serious corrupt behavior will be “top priority.”

The Party will maintain a “heavy-handed approach” against corruption, the communique said, “with unabated forces and unchanging rhythm.”

Anti-graft officials will work to reduce corruption and prevent corruption cases from growing.

Work also needs to be done to make sure officials “do not dare to be corrupt” and to strengthen the system so that officials “are unable and unwilling to be corrupt.”

Greater efforts will be made to pursue fugitives and recover stolen assets as part of upgraded international cooperation against corruption, according to the communique. Efforts to root out corruption will include ensuring inspections cover all government organs, institutions and state-owned enterprises.

The communique stressed the Eight-Point Regulations calling for frugality, warning that holidays are particularly prone to breaches of the regulations.

It emphasized the exemplary roles of the “key minority,” or officials of high rank, in following frugality rules, saying efforts to implement the regulations will not relent during holidays.

The communique specified that those who attend private VIP clubs or organize secretive get-togethers will be heavily punished. For those who attend such gatherings, disciplinary officers will talk with them and require them to review their mistakes at intra-Party conferences.

The disciplinary inspections will be increasingly strict, the communique said, and problems concerning formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism and extravagance discovered during inspections will be seriously investigated.

The communique also stressed easing public access to supervision of officials.

It called for strictly punishing those involved in corruption that undermines the most direct interests of the people, and strengthening the integrity of the Party’s grassroots organs.

Outstanding problems such as forceful seizure, extorting bribes and embezzlement, as well as corruption and extravagance in poverty relief work, will be the focus of the campaign.

The communique vowed to build a “loyal, clean and responsible team of discipline and inspection staff” who are loyal to the Party and trusted by the people.

It urged disciplinary officers to assist local Party committees in leadership transfer so that appointed officials are clean.

However, the communique noted that while disciplining wrongdoers has become a fixture in the fight against corruption, members of the Party with severe violations remained very few.

Heavy punishment and major organizational adjustments only affected a minority of officials, it said, and those accused of severe disciplinary and suspected legal violations are only an extreme minority.

“Organizational adjustments” is a euphemism that often refers to demotion, expulsion from the Party and removal from post.

Among those at the meeting was Xi Jinping in his role as general secretary of the Party’s Central Committee.




 

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