Eight officials in the northern province of Shanxi are under investigation over the altering of a health report which caused a high-scoring candidate for a civil service job to be rejected.

The case involves bribes totalling 117,000 yuan (US$18,497), the disciplinary watchdog of Changzhi City said yesterday.

Zhao Bo, a former deputy director of the Changzhi human resource authority, Ji Xinrui, a former department chief, and Han Yumei, a director of Changzhi Medical College's Heping Hospital, have been expelled from the Party for forging Song Jiangming's physical exam result.

Jia Zhihong, Party secretary of Yincheng Village, is alleged to have bribed Zhao and Ji to secure a space for her daughter, who also took part in the exams, the Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China in Changzhi said. Six other Party officials received disciplinary punishments while four of them are to be prosecuted for criminal offenses.

Song Jiangming, a Jilin University graduate, failed his physical examination last August, but the same tests at other hospitals showed no problems.

The Heping Hospital checkup showed the 27-year-old had a low white blood cell count and he was rejected on health grounds.

Civil service jobs have become increasingly sought because of the global economic depression as they guarantee a stable income and continuous employment without fear of the sack.

An estimated 1.3 million young Chinese competed for 18,000 civil servant posts in central government departments and their local branches last November, Xinhua news agency reported earlier.

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)