Nation to Fight Misuse of PowerAn education official from Hunan Province has been detained for alleged dereliction of duty in connection with a national college entrance examination scandal that involved cheating by 203 students.As vice-director of the Education Bureau of Jiahe County in Central China's Hunan Province, a post he no longer holds, Hu Pingshun is believed to be responsible for lax supervision in examination rooms that resulted in massive cheating earlier this month. Hu's case was among the 3,126 dereliction cases handled by public prosecutors in the first half of this year, Li Baotang, director of the Dereliction Investigation Department of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, said yesterday. In 1998 and 1999, prosecutors handled 1,155 cases of abuse of power, 3,075 of dereliction of duty, 2,535 involving irregularities linked to favoritism, and 3,002 cases involving infringement on individual rights, said sources with Li's office. Two ministerial-level officials and 16 department-level leaders were prosecuted. The cases were uncovered in industry and commerce administration, taxation, border control, customs, transportation, food, water resources, forestry, labour, cultural relics management, environmental protection, land management, monopolized tobacco sales, and import and export quarantine. Li branded dereliction of duty as "another form of corruption." He said procuratorates at all levels will be unrelenting in exposing and prosecuting officials who shirk their duties. Targets are: Party and government leaders, especially those above the county- or division-level, who abuse their power and do not perform their duties. Judicial officials who bend the law for their personal interests, misuse the law in making judgments, extract confessions by torture and unlawfully detain people. Administrative law enforcement officials, especially those responsible for maintaining the order of markets, who abuse their power and use the law for personal gain. Civil servants who infringe on the rights of citizens by misusing their power. Procuratorates at all levels will strengthen their co-ordination in investigating dereliction of duty by introducing an internal case exchange system and establishing an evidence-sharing network that all procuratorates can use, Li said. He said Supreme People's Procuratorate has set up a new department to deal with officials who have violated citizens' rights or are derelict in their duties. |
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