Graft-busters dispatched across China in new round of investigations

Sudden anti-corruption inspections would be a "Sword of Damocles" to deter suspect officials, the mainland's anti-graft chief said yesterday.

Wang Qishan, secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), made the comments while announcing a new round of inspections to be carried out at 11 provincial-level governments, two institutes and a massive state-owned enterprise.

It would be third round of sweeps since May. Inspectors will go to Beijing, Tianjin, Liaoning, Fujian, Shandong, Henan, Hainan, Gansu, Ningxia and Xinjiang, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, a semi-military government development organisation in the remote far western region.

Special "investigation projects" would be conducted at the Ministry of Science and Technology, Shanghai-based Fudan University and state-owned China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation.

"We can send a team to any unit if we believe an individual official may be involved in corruption," Wang said. "We must be mobile and flexible, making it hard for suspected officials [to anticipate our movements]. If we arrive suddenly, it will be a good deterrent.