Guangzhou party official to make assets public to bootstrap anti-corruption plans
And after four days of heavy publicity, Xinhua late Monday night responded with a statement reminding the public not to get their hopes up.
It's that lack of accountability, Fan said in one interview, which prompted his decision, and led previous similar attempts at transparency in Xinjiang and other provinces to failure.
Fan also argues the scheme should be extended to include the heads of state-owned enterprises and civil servants from the county level on up through their tenure and for the five years following their retirement from public service.
And, of course, all those assets officials have stored safely overseas, says Fan, who has been the top local news story since the weekend.
Amid a flurry of coverage, Guangzhou media chasing the story have been allowed to interview (and quote) several of the city's most senior leaders.
Ding Hongdu, Party secretary of Guangzhou's Nansha district, slated for the transparency project, has gone on record saying he enthusiastically supports Fan's proposal and is even willing to join him.
Fan, for his part, has sort of begun to follow through, revealing in interviews he lives in a walk-up building with a flat just over 70 square metres in size, but leaving his supporters in suspense pending disclosure of any serious details.
"That's great, he should go public if he's willing, that is his freedom."
The Nansha experiment is set to be extended to the rest of Guangdong province next year.
Only a fraction of officials will be required to declare their assets; assets to be declared under the pilot scheme will include items such as property holdings, investment commitments and one's spouse's employment situation, but not one's salary; officials will only be declaring said assets, not making them public.
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