Xinhua Insight: Campaign deals with corruption in poverty relief

China is tightening supervision over officials in charge of its national poverty relief campaign, after investigations show the negative affect corruption has had on the campaign to lift more than 70 million people out of poverty.

In the past three years, prosecutors have investigated 2,295 officials who manage poverty alleviation -- 579 in 2013, 783 in 2014, and 933 in 2015, according to the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP).

The number of officials implicated in abuse of finances for poverty relief in the past three years accounted for 1.4 percent of the total duty crimes during the period, the SPP added.

Corruption in poverty alleviation has risen at almost in tandem with the rate at which poverty relief projects and funds have increased, and lax supervision has not helped either, according to an unidentified official with the anti-corruption bureau under the SPP.

Investigations by the SPP show that officials at county, township and village level are most likely to be involved in duty crimes, spanning bribery, embezzlement, speculation, abuse of power and dereliction of duty.

Under such circumstances, authorities in a number of provinces such as Hubei, Jiangxi, Gansu and Guizhou, have recently launched "accountability mechanisms" or "third-party mechanisms" to ensure the relief funds are properly allocated and poverty-stricken residents truly feel the benefits.

In northwestern province of Gansu, for example, provincial authorities have hired experts from non-Party and non-government organizations to form a 66-member third-party team to supervise relief work.

The inspection team will choose poor residents at random and check if they have received enough relief money from local officials. The residents will also give scores to those in charge of the relief campaign in Gansu, where 3.17 million live below the nation's poverty line of 2,300 yuan (about 354 U.S. dollars) in annual income.

Those who have done "excellent work" with high public satisfaction will be promoted, while those who fail will face demotion, according to the provincial government.

Though the government's poverty relief fund has nearly doubled from 2011 to 2014, the result is far below expectations, with only 12.32 million people emerging from poverty in 2014, compared with 43.29 million in 2011.

Corruption has partly hampered the relief work, according to Xia Xueluan, a sociology professor with Peking University.

ANTI-POVERTY VS ANTI-CORRUPTION

Last year, Liu Yujin was listed by local officials as one of those lifted out of poverty in Zhuxi County, central China's Hubei Province, but he is still living hand-to-mouth.

"I am illiterate, so I don't know what the [poverty relief] documents say about me," Liu said. "I don't even know how I 'got out of poverty.'"

Similar situations have been reported in other counties in Shiyan City, which oversees Zhuxi County, according to Peng Wenjun, director with Shiyan's poverty relief office.

"Some local officials falsify documents recording the financial status of poor residents just to sign off on their tasks," Peng said.

For a long time, officials with many poor counties have been reluctant to shake off their poverty titles which mean more funding from the government, according to a national document released in February. Some officials even want to get the "poverty county" title just for the money associated with it.

In 2014, authorities in southern Hainan Province discovered that almost 200 million yuan of poverty relief funding was improperly used. In 2015, 20 counties in Guizhou Province were found to have falsely claimed funds with fake files of poor residents. Local officials had been storing the money for their own use instead of helping the poor.

"Such cases are a display of inaction at the local level," said Wang Zhongwu, a sociology professor with Shandong University. "Their lust is sated by the suffering of struggling residents."

As urgency for change mounts, a variety of counter measures are being used to ensure relief work in efficiently conducted.

Earlier this year, China announced a five-year campaign to crack down on corruption by officials engaged in poverty relief work.

An information sharing system will be set up to ensure all poverty alleviation funds are used effectively and transparently, the SPP said, adding that officials will receive training to increase their legal awareness.

Prosecutors will improve the investigation of misuse of funds for relocation, ecological protection, education and medical insurance, and rural living allowances.

Much like in Gansu, in the eastern province of Jiangxi, authorities plan to conduct selective checks and third-party evaluations on those reportedly lifted out of poverty.

Officials will be held accountable and receive related punishments if they fail government standard, according to Gong Liangbao, an official with Jiangxi's poverty relief office.

"Anyone found falsifying records or conducting any illegal behavior will receive a public notice of criticism and be disqualified from promotion," Gong said.

With southwestern province of Guizhou, authorities are inviting the public to join the supervision campaign, with the local government setting up a "poverty relief hotline" to take reports on corruption. So far, operators have received at least 1,000 tip-off phone calls, all of which were properly handled.

"Only when corruption is tackled can we truly lift people out of poverty," said Wang Zhongwu, a sociology professor. Endi