Advertisement
Advertisement
Chief graft-buster Wang Qishan on his trip to Zhejiang province. Photo: Xinhua

China's top anti-graft agency slams slack local graft-busters for allowing corrupt cadres to rise

Local disciplinary watchdog and party cadres criticised for oversights

The central anti-corruption agency has slammed local graft-busters for their slackness and called for greater discipline in a post on its website after its chief Wang Qishan's visit to Zhejiang province over the weekend.

The article by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said some local officials were promoted despite being corrupt because of the local disciplinary watchdog and party cadres' oversight.

"Regarding the anti-corruption campaign, would it ever be possible to just rely on the central government to put in all the effort?" read the article.

It said most of the senior officials detained in the graft investigation had been corrupt since they were in lower-level positions, and urged all levels of graft-busters to use the CCDI's inspection tour system to uncover problems to build a better political ecosystem from the bottom up.

"It's a crucial point and could affect the whole campaign," the article said.

The CCDI has conducted at least four rounds of general inspection tours and three rounds of targeted tours. All provinces have been inspected, and this year, state-owned enterprises are at the top of its inspection list.

The Communist Party has started fixing its system after more than a hundred ministerial- and provincial-level cadres were put under investigation in the intense graft crackdown. The central government is amending the party's disciplinary regulations so that they can be used against corrupt officials and limit their power.

Wang's speeches have received intense media attention as they often shed light on what would likely be the next moves in President Xi Jinping's anti-graft campaign.

Of late, party discipline has been a key focus in several of the CCDI chief's talks, party mouthpiece reported.

Wang recently warned officials not to confuse party discipline with state laws, and said the revision of the party disciplinary regulations should cut out clauses that overlap with the law. Party rules should be stricter than state laws, he added.

A report on 's mobile app said the CCDI had already taken steps to strengthen local graft agencies' capability. It had deployed nine central-government-level inspectors to eight provinces, it said.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Local graft-busters blasted for oversights
Post