A?senior executive of huolinhe Coal Corporation, based in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region in North China, is reported to have bought 41 apartments for 12.80 million yuan ($1.95 million), which far exceeds his legal income. He has responded by saying his family has 11 companies and he paid for the properties with the profits from these companies. Since he is a senior executive of a State-owned enterprise, more details are needed to prove he is clean, says China Youth Daily:

Even if what he said is true, more evidence is needed to prove he is clean. Regulations prohibit senior executives of State-owned companies from running businesses related to their jobs or providing business for the companies of family members.

Like their colleagues in government departments, SOE officials belong to the bureaucratic system as well, and they are responsible for reporting the businesses of their family members to the authorities. That's necessary because these businesses are related to public interests and should be put under public supervision.

Since the anti-graft campaign was launched in 2012, the inspection teams have found a common problem with SOEs, namely family members of senior executives opening companies and profiting from "doing business" with the SOEs. That's corruption plus money laundering and the ongoing anti-corruption campaign is aimed at rooting out such kind of corruption.

We do not mean that the executive and his family are necessarily corrupt. The problem is, there are reports about his possible illicit deeds and local authorities need to investigate. His response is pale because he fails to mention the key problem, the relationship between the businesses of his family and the SOE, in which he is a senior manager.

In practice, the disciplinary departments of many provinces and cities disclose the property of the officials that are reported to be illicit. That's a good start and we hope Inner Mongolia does the same.