Top Biz News

Anti-corruption leader is candid about worsening problem

By Zhang Yan (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-14 07:55

Corruption and bribery cases involving officials connected to major engineering projects have grown by 31 percent annually since 2006, a top anti-corruption official of Beijing said.

Zhu Xiaoqin, head of the anti-corruption bureau of Beijing People's Procuratorate, told METRO that from 2006, 146 officials - 34 of which are senior officials - in 135 corruption and bribery cases have been charged by the procuratorates.

Among the cases, 101 relate to cases with more than 100,000 yuan. These major cases have seen an average increase of 7.9 percent annually.

Zhu said State-owned enterprises account for the majority of the cases, with real estate companies the main culprit.

Close behind are government departments such as urban infrastructure management, construction committees, planning committees, civil affairs, and civil defense departments. They are most likely to contain corrupt officials, Zhu said.

Meanwhile, group bribery cases are also increasing in frequency.

"Construction projects involve a lot of money and have long approval procedures, so groups of officials often work together to earn through corruption," she said.

According to Zhu, excessive bidding remains the focus of corruption and bribery attempts, accounting for 32.9 of the cases on file, followed by housing demolition and reconstruction, purchasing of building materials, quality control, and project acceptance.

As for the forms of bribes, in addition to cash, paying renovation costs, buying a house or giving abnormal discounts on houses and offering free tourism programs are fresh approaches to treating officials, Zhu said.

While housing demolition in downtown Beijing is a hot topic amid soaring house prices, seeking relevant benefits has become a major criminal motivation for some officials.

Taking advantage of their positions, officials in charge of housing demolitions are giving priority to contractors in exchange for bribes.

Zhu said procuratorate departments should get in touch with the local development and reform commission and finance departments to learn about the overall situation of investment projects, specific project names, amounts of investment, and the construction process to carry out prevention measures.