China has arrested over 400 corrupt officials up until the end of February in
the country's second nation-wide anti-corruption campaign which began at the
start of this year, reported the Democracy & Law Times newspaper.
Afraid of alerting the criminals, the Chinese Supreme People's Procuratorate
and the Chinese Ministry of Public Security commenced their campaign secretly
during the Spring Festival, without any media coverage.
The former vice mayor of Renqiu City in Northern Hebei Provice, Lian
Rongguang, who also held the position of the President of the People's Bank of
China's Cangzhou Branch in Hebei, was among those arrested. He has been accused
of taking bribes of over 1 million yuan, or US$120,000, and embezzling over 3
million yuan, or US$362,000 of public money.
The Chinese Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Chinese Ministry of Public
Security have been directed to place information on corrupt officials who have
absconded onto their web sites this year. The idea is that any person named on
the list may be arrested immediately by regional police offices.
Following information placed on the internet, police in Sichuan Province
arrested the former manager of the Dachuan Branch of the Sichuan Changhong
Electric Corporation, Zhang Chuanhong, who was on the run for 8 years accused of
misappropriating 20 million yuan, or US$ 2.4 million of public money.
Meanwhile, police in central China's Henan Province have captured 28 run-away
officials within 20 days with the help of the Internet.
Finance departments at various levels have also allocated funds to back the
national campaign. They will, for example, offer rewards to those who provide
key information and relevant departments that have performed well during the
drive. The northeastern coastal city of Dalian has announced that it will
provide rewards of at least 3 thousand yuan, or US$362 to people who provide
important information.
Meanwhile, China will step up efforts to pursue corrupt officials who attempt
to flee overseas, and to offer reduced sentences to those who surrender to
police.
Statistics show that up until the end of February, over 160 have surrendered
themselves to police, accounting for 40 percent of the total number of officials
arrested in the current campaign.
A report released by China's top anti-corruption watchdog shows that at the
end of last year, there were over 4000 fugitive corrupt officials among their
registered criminal cases, covering 30 Chinese provinces and cities. The report
also reveals that although more corrupt officials have been arrested, the number
of corrupt officials that have absconded has continued to rise over the last two
years, accounting for half of all the corrupt officials at
large.