China’s graft-busters to ‘delve deep’ in new round of corruption inspections
- Li Xi, head of the CCDI, says five government departments and 26 state-owned enterprises are in the cross hairs
- The list of targets suggests a focus on the tech sector, with inspectors looking for ‘potential major risks’
Li Xi, chief of the country’s top graft-buster, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, said the CCDI would “delve deep” during the inspections that will target five government departments and 26 state-owned enterprises.
The list of targets released by the CCDI after a meeting on Tuesday suggests a focus on the tech sector. The five departments are the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence, and the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration. SOEs in the car, steel, shipping, airline and publishing sectors are also in the cross hairs.
Follow-up inspections will also be carried out in the state monopolised railways sector after crackdowns in recent years brought down senior officials including Sheng Guangzu, the former minister of railways and general manager of China Railway Corp.
“China’s high-quality development can only be achieved when the bottom line of security is ensured,” Li told the meeting on the next round of inspections, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Li said the inspections should help to identify major security risks and that relevant parties should help to defuse those risks.
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Li, a Politburo Standing Committee member and head of the party’s Central Leading Group for Inspection Work, also said the CCDI would strengthen supervision of “No 1” figures – the heads of government departments and SOEs – and improve collaboration with audit, financial, statistics, petition and other departments.
The leadership said at a Politburo meeting last month that corruption inspections were an “effective way” to find problems and that they would continue.
Tens of thousands of officials have been brought down since Xi launched the sweeping anti-corruption drive when he took power in 2012.
The most recent crackdown, from March to September this year, targeted the financial, sports and medical sectors and more than 140 SOE officials were detained for investigation. At least 36 senior cadres – officials at vice-ministerial ranking or above – have been placed under investigation this year.
Both men were believed to have been hand-picked by Xi himself for promotions that had taken place in the past 12 months.
