China’s corruption watchdog probes officials’ personal details
- Random checks of annual declaration forms make party cadres nervous
- Discipline inspectors find many reasons to invite suspects in for a ‘bitter tea’ session
A 16-page form has become one of the Communist Party’s most potent weapons in its ongoing war on corruption in China.
The “Leading Cadres’ Personal Matters Report Form” was introduced in 2010 and in its first few years was not regarded with any real seriousness by the senior officials required to complete it at the beginning of each year.
That changed in 2017 when the party’s disciplinary watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), was given the power to conduct random checks on the forms, which carry a special instruction in bold on the first page: “This form must be filled out by the cadre him/herself”.
Alex Chen (not his real name), a newly promoted cadre working in northern China, told the South China Morning Post that the CCDI’s inspection teams, at all levels, now comb through about 20 per cent of the annual filings.
No let-up for corrupt ‘tigers’ in 2018 as China’s graft-busters claim more big scalps
What makes Chen nervous is the stern punishment for misreporting, which has been upgraded to become a violation of party discipline.