China ruling party to keep watch on bribe-taking inspectors in anti-graft units
A new official documentary aired on national television revealed several inspectors from the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) had taken tens of millions of yuan in exchange for writing favourable reports about suspects.
Many inspectors of the Communist Party of China’s top anti-graft body, which is leading a high-profile anti-corruption campaign under President Xi Jinping, are not above taking bribes themselves.
A new official documentary aired on national television revealed several inspectors from the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) had taken tens of millions of yuan in exchange for writing favourable reports about suspects.
One such inspector was Wei Jian, a senior official in CCDI who had participated in a number of investigations involving guilty officials including that of CPC Politburo’s Standing Committee member, Bo Xilai. Weihad accepted millions of Yuan in bribes to influence investigations, Xinhua agency reported.
Wei’s fatal flaw was that he believed as an investigator himself, he was about investigations. “Who would investigate the CCDI?” he said in the three-episode documentary titled “To Forge Iron, One Must Be Strong”.
The documentary, jointly produced by China Central Television (CCTV) and the CCDI, interviewed Wei and other guilty inspectors and sheds light on enhanced discipline within China's anti-graft authorities.
Around 7,900 officials from discipline inspection organs nationwide received “party disciplinary punishment” and 2,500 have been subject to “organisational punishment” since the party Congress in 2012 for discipline violations, Wu Yuliang, deputy secretary of the CCDI, was quoted as saying.
One of the sources of violation of rules and discipline lay in the handling of case property and money seized during investigations.
In its plenary session concluded earlier this month, the CCDI passed pilot work rules for discipline inspection organs.
“The new rules, which focus on inspection and discipline procedures, clarify procedures for the handling of cases, including the collection and verification of facts, case filing, case hearing, and how to dispose of money and goods involved in a case,” the documentary said.
“The anti-corruption battle must go deeper,” Xi said at the CCDI plenary session, calling for strict governance of the CPC “systematically, creatively and effectively”.
“The guidelines established at the sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee should be implemented in a comprehensive manner”, Xi said, adding “…that new practices must be guided with renewed understanding”.