China Headlines: Corruption left with no place to hide

With the top anti-graft organ establishing supervisors in the offices of central authorities, and the launch of a campaign to capture fugitive officials abroad, China is leaving corruption no place to hide.

The Communist Party of China's (CPC) Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said on Tuesday that it has established resident offices in four Party central organs, as well as the country's parliament, top political advisory body and the cabinet.

Wednesday saw the kick-off of the cross-department "Sky Net" operation to capture corrupt cadres who have fled abroad. Considered more comprehensive than last year's "Fox Hunt" campaign, this initiative will also focus on counterfeit certificates, underground banks and misappropriated assets.

In addition, central authorities have also strengthened anti-graft efforts in state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

SCRUTINIZING TOP AUTHORITIES

According to the CCDI, resident supervisors have set up shop in the CPC Central Committee's General Office, Organization Department, Publicity Department and United Front Work Department. Similar branches were also set up in the top legislature, top political advisory body and the General Office of the State Council.

Resident offices have for some time allowed disciplinary organs to supervise departments, public-sponsored institutions and SOEs. They are responsible for disciplinary inspections, pressing implementation of Party discipline and tracing accountability.

This is the first time they have been established in the three top state organs and the four Party organs. Prof. Xie Chuntao with the Party School of CPC Central Committee, described the move as "historically significant".

The central Party and government authorities are organs of supreme power and the main center of the country's governance system. The CCDI's deputy secretary, said in December, following the decision to establish these offices, that graft within these organs has had a very negative impact, so it is "imperative" to strengthen supervision over them.

A number of very senior officials in Party and central state authorities have been felled for corruption in recent years, most notably Zhou Yongkang, and Ling Jihua, who both held posts in top organs.

Despite these successes, some doubted how effective a subordinate body could really be in supervising a superior organ. In response, Xie said that supervision offices are directly managed by the CCDI, the authority of which cannot be challenged.

"SKY NET" AN UPGRADED VERSION OF "FOX HUNT"

Compared to the "Fox Hunt 2014" Operation launched by the Ministry of Public Security, "Sky Net" is a more coordinated move. It involves other departments, including the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the central bank, and the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee.

Gao Bo, deputy secretary-general of the Clean Government Studies Center under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said China's anti-graft work overseas made great progress last year, with more cross-border cooperation and the Anti-Corruption Declaration signed during APEC meetings in 2014.

International joint work in this field is indeed snowballing. CCDI secretary Wang Qishan told a visiting Russian delegation last week that China is ready to strengthen cooperation with Russia to fight corruption.

Despite an absence of an extradition treaty between Beijing and Washington, there are positive signs that the United States will help. The U.S. State Department said last month that China had agreed to supply "more evidence regarding their priority fugitive cases, so that we can increase our focus on the location and prosecution or removal of these fugitives".

"Sky Net" will target underground banks transferring illegally-gained money abroad, while officials' travel documents will be checked more closely to block corrupt ones from running away.

"With more pressure on corruption in China, more corrupt officials will run away. It's a natural response," said Li Yongzhong, an anti-graft observer. "Capturing fugitive officials will shore up confidence in anti-graft work, and overawe corrupt officials."

SOEs NOT A DEAD ANGLE

In March, China's business circle was struck by the fall of two leaders of giant SOEs. Graft investigations were announced into Xu Jianyi, chairman of top automaker FAW Group, and Liao Yongyuan, general manager of China's biggest oil producer, China National Petroleum Corporation.

The fall of the two moguls came after China's strengthened supervision to SOEs since the beginning of this year. At a key meeting in January, the CCDI said SOEs are no exception in strengthened governance of the Party.

The graft watchdog said in February that SOEs are a focus of inspection work this year. It has targeted 26 major SOEs for inspections, vowing to inspect all key central government-administered SOEs.

Fourteen SOEs were inspected in the past two years, leading to the fall of over 70 executives in 2014.

SOEs are very prone to corruption, as their governance system lags far behind that of other multinationals, according to Li Yongzhong.

In March, at least 15 SOE executives were put under investigation for corruption. As Li said, SOEs have become a major "battlefield" in the war against graft.

The anti-corruption drive will not affect the development of SOEs; instead, it can improve them by eliminating conservative groups and outdated practices, thereby protecting state-owned assets and helping build modern corporate governance, said Gao Bo.

However, Gao added that inspections in those giant firms requires technical staff in fields like financing, legal work and accounting, which will challenge the capacity of China's anti-graft organ. Endi