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Central government regulates “Naked Officials�
July 27th, 2010 by Key | Posted in News | 12 Comments »
China news agency, Beijing reported in September16, 2009 that according to the Ministry of Commerce survey, in the last 30 years about 4,000 corrupted officials fled the country and carried away about 50 billion USD with them. Today, fleeing corrupt officials have become a major problem that Chinese government faces.
(Southern Weekender) To address this issue, according to Xinhua News Agency, the CPC Central Committee General Office, State Council recently issued “Interim Provisions to strengthen management on national staffs whose spouses and children have already moved to countries (territories) outside of China�, and issued announcement urging all local departments to take serious actions on implementing the provisions.
The “Interim Provisions� clearly defines regulations on reports about national staff’s spouses and children who have moved to foreign countries, the office held by the staff, issues of avoiding handling public affairs, handling non-official passports and laissez-passer documents to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions and licenses and documents management of going abroad for private business or immigration to foreign countries and so on.
The provisions requires national staff to submit written reports on the situation of the spouses and children moved to foreign countries (territories) to the cadre management authority. And the reports must be submitted timely when the situation and conditions change. The provisions states that when staff handling public affairs related to their spouses and children moving foreign countries (territories) should take the initiative to explain the situation to the head of the department. When there is a conflict of interest, they shall voluntarily avoid, or to be instructed to avoid by the responsible department.
“Interim Provision� stated that when applicable personnel handling non-official passports, laissez-passer documents to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions, licenses and documents to go abroad for private business or immigration, should strictly abide by state laws and regulations; cadres above the county level applying or handling above matters should be reviewed by relevant department according to the cadre management authority. Personnel selection and appointment should provide detailed investigation involving a comprehensive understanding of the relevant circumstances.
“Interim Provisions� clearly stated, in violation of the provisions, depending on the seriousness, the staff shall be punished with criticism and education, organizational disciplines and legal disciplines.
The origin of the “Naked Officials�
June 2006, former director of Bureau of Fujian Province Zhou Jinhuo was going to be “double regulatedâ€� (双规 Shuanggui: ordered to give a clear explanation of one’s issues; give a confession by certain time and at designated place.) for involving in a criminal case up to 100 million yuan. However Zhou fled the country before he was “regulatedâ€� and left behind a letter on his desk, telling the discipline inspection department that he was long gone and do not bother looking for him. Zhou’s wife Chen Shuzhen was already immigrated to the U. S. and holds the green card which provided him with the escape plan.
Former Vice Chairman of Shaanxi Province, Pang Jiayu was sentenced to 12 years in prison for accepting bribes and derelictions of duty. What attracted the most public attentions was, Pang’s wife and children had already immigrated to Canada at the time when he was in power. After Pang was sentenced, these kind of corrupted officials in China, whose family members have already immigrated to foreign countries are so called “Naked Officials�.
Last year in November, Shenzhen promulgated “Interim Provisions on strengthening the supervision of the party and government chiefs�, which for the first time states “Naked Officials� may not serve as party chief and group member of important sectors; in order to prevent “Naked Officials� from fleeting the country, Guangdong Provincial Party Committee Organization Department requires provincial cadres to report family situation prior to taking office.
February 22 this year, the Supervision Ministry issued “Main Focuses of 2010 National Bureau of Corruption Prevention�, in which “the methods of increasing the awareness and management of public officers whose spouses and children moved to foreign countries� was clearly listed. This was also the first time Supervision Ministry and Bureau of Corruption Prevention publicly providing regulations focusing on the “Naked Officials�.
On April 23 this year, the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau considered the Interim Provisions about cadres reporting personal information on spouses and children who have moved to foreign countries (territories). Recently the central authority issued “The Provisions on cadres reporting personal information�, in which explicitly required officials to report the living and working situations of their spouses and children who are outside of China.