Prosecutors move to stem corruption ( 2003-09-05 09:18) (China Daily)
Some 560 government officials above the county or division level have been
arraigned for prosecution since 1998 by the Beijing Municipal People's
Procuratorate, the local office of the national judicial supervision
organization responsible for the investigation of crimes in which the defendants
have taken advantage of their positions for personal gain.
There have been 2,106 crimes of this kind in the capital over the past five
years, involving economic losses of 1.4 billion yuan (US$164) to the government,
according to Xu Haifeng, prosecutor general of Beijing, in a report to the
Beijing Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee yesterday.
Measures have also been taken by the procuratorate to strengthen its ability
to prevent crimes in which the guilty take advantage of their positions in the
construction industry to seek personal gain, according to Xu.
"The procuratorate is working jointly with other departments to ensure that
graft and embezzlement are kept out of the construction of Olympic venues,'' he
said.
But the chief prosecutor also pointed out that many problems still exist in
the investigation of such crimes.
"The number of corruption cases in judicial and administrative law
enforcement organizations that has been filed at procuratorates is less than the
real figure,'' Xu said.
Crimes in law enforcement organizations involving abuse of position have been
one of the major focuses of complaints from local residents in recent years.
Xu attributes the between actual cases and the number of cases uncovered by
prosecutors to the relatively ineffective investigation methods and inadequate
law enforcement facilities.
But he also pointed out that officials perpetrating crimes that involve abuse
of their positions usually have effective ways to cover up their actions, such
as collusion with their fellow staff, which makes investigation more difficult.
Wu Senzhong, vice-director of the BMPC Internal and Judicial Committee
yesterday urged the procuratorate to upgrade the professional abilities of
procuratorate staff and to improve investigation facilities.
