Seven New Phenomena Characterize Corrupt Officials

In the first half of this year, Hubei province investigators uncovered corruption scandals implicating five officials at the department and bureau level and 42 at the county office level. The Procuratorial Daily published an article Tuesday analyzing these cases and came up with seven new phenomena in the ongoing battle against corruption.

These seven phenomenons are:

1) In ancient China, there was very little dereliction of duty in the culture, education and sanitation dan wei (work units). But, last year's investigations showed that these work units are no longer immune from corruption. Of the 47 corrupt officials, nine or 19% of them were originally from these work units.

2) The heads of state owned enterprises (SOE) who have power over the company's employees, finances and assets have a greater probability of being corrupt. Of the 47 officials, 24 or 51% were managers of SOEs, factory managers or presidents of a bank.

3) Today, not only are there corrupt officials who use enjoy a lavish lifestyle, but their wife or mistresses also are more than willing to accept bribes on their behalf.

4) Before, most officials turned corrupt when they hit 59 years old, a year before they retired due to the lack of social security. But, now the age of corrupt officials is no longer important. Of the 47 corrupt officials investigated, 17 or 36% were 50 years old or older, 20 or 43% were between 40 and 50, and 10 or 21% were younger than 40 years old.

5) Their "ability" to make money illegally varies. According to the statistics, the 47 officials have been implicated in more than 44.6 million yuan of illegal funds or an average of 950,000 yuan per person. But, the average dereliction of duty case involved only 250,000 yuan. The corrupt high ranking officials cases averaged nearly 1 million yuan.

6) The crimes committed by officials at the county office or higher primarily involve corruption and accepting bribes. Of the 47 officials, 14 or 30% were suspected of corruption and 21 or 45% were suspected of accepting bribes. But the crimes are no longer limited to fudging reports, holding up goods, covering for smugglers and receiving kickbacks. As China's economy develops, the corrupt officials' crimes are moving into areas such as insider trading.

7) Investigators found that most of the suspected corrupt officials were acting out on their own instead of committing crimes together, making it easier to cover up their crimes. Of the 47, only eight officials or 17% worked together. The remaining 83% committed crimes alone. Moreover, 22 officials or 47% were guilty of accepting bribes from a single person, as opposed to a company or corporation. The less people know about the crime, the easier it is to cover up. None of the crimes the 47 officials were investigated for were committed last year. 40 officials or 85% of the cases occurred in 1998.



People's Daily Online --- http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/