Explainer | Here are 3 anti-corruption tools in China’s arsenal that may be underutilised

Owning ill-gotten homes and hoarding stockpiles of cash is getting harder in China as privacy wanes and transparency reigns

China’s graft-busters are putting corrupt officials on notice with eye-opening checks and balances

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China’s digital yuan, the e-CNY, is highly traceable. And some civil servants will be paid in it. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 7:00am, 21 May 2023

China’s anti-corruption storm is raging on, with dozens of state bank executives and financial cadres investigated so far this year, while government officials and managers of state-owned enterprises have come under greater scrutiny in terms of their family assets and business conduct.

In addition to an annual asset-declaration mechanism, here are some unconventional tools that China’s discipline inspectors and prosecutors could wield in their graft-busting gambit.

1. Digital yuan

China is the world’s front-runner in piloting a central bank digital currency, and its e-yuan, also known as the e-CNY, has already been used in more than 26 pilot cities, with more than 100 billion yuan (US$14.3 billion) worth of transactions reported so far.

Although it is mainly designated for small retail payments such as paying utilities or ordering a cup of coffee, it can actually be used in other scenarios such as cross-border trade, corporate spending, payrolls and bank loans.

“The traceability of the digital currency can be used to effectively deter and combat payment deductions and corruption,” Hong Yong, a fellow with the Ministry of Commerce’s research institute, said last year.