China Briefing | Planning agency tangled up by graft

Over the past few days, a middle-level mainland bureaucrat has become one of the hottest talking points in China as anti-graft investigators confirmed that a record 200 million yuan (HK$252 million ) in cash was seized from his home - the biggest known haul of dirty money in the history of the People's Republic.

Even for hard-boiled mainlanders who are already numb to the scale of official corruption, the record set by Wei Pengyuan, deputy director of the coal department at the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), still comes as a shocker. The irony would not be lost on many who read media reports that Peng dressed plainly and was often seen riding an old bicycle to work before he was detained.

In a commentary on what is called "collapsing corruption", Xinhua lamented the NDRC has too much power, which is concentrated in too few people, left unchecked and without proper supervision.

This has led to the "collapsing" of departments. Among 11 NDRC officials detained so far, five worked for the energy bureau, including its bureau chief, Liu Tienan. Another five worked for the pricing regulation department, including its incumbent and previous chiefs.

The underlying message is the detentions are just a tip of the iceberg.

The NDRC is the most deceptively named of any government ministry, as it focuses neither on development nor reform

It traces its origin to the omnipotent State Planning Commission, which was set up in the 1950s to regulate production of everything from steel to toothpaste in a planned economy.