Wei Jianxing, a member of the Political Bureau Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee, made the remark at a three-day plenary session of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, which started Monday morning.

Some 5,154 sedans "unlawfully possessed or borrowed" by a number of officials had been returned to their actual owners and some 4,465 computers, which had been paid for with public funds but were "installed" in the apartments of certain officials, were ordered to be given back, according to him.

Wei, also secretary of the CPC Central Committee for Discipline Inspection, said the 86 departments affiliated with the CPC Central Committee and the State Council have all made detailed regulations concerning the employment of spouses and children of leading officials above the prefecture level, and those that violated the regulations had been punished accordingly.

By the end of November, discipline inspection and supervision organs at all levels had dealt with more than 130,000 major cases and gave Party and administrative punishment to over 130,000 people, including 4,146 officials at the county level, 331 at the prefecture level and 21 at and above the ministerial level.

Some of the most conspicuous cases are those involving Cheng Kejie, a former vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress; Hu Changqing, the former deputy governor of Jiangxi Province; Qin Changdian, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the Municipal People's Congress of Chongqing; and Wang Shihui, vice-chairman of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Wei said marked progress have also been recorded in fighting against fake and low-quality medicine and regulating administrative fees and fines.

Besides, more than 86 percent of government organs at the township level have adopted the practice of making public administrative affairs, and more than 90 percent of the villages have also adopted similar practices which center on the openness of village financing.

China to Step Up Anti-Corruption Drive

Wei also vowed to step up the nationwide campaign against corruption in his work report to the fifth plenary session of the commission.

During the three-day session period, the participants are scheduled to sum up China's anti-corruption work in the year 2000, analyze the current situation to carry out the work, and hammer out anti-corruption plans for the coming year.

(People's Daily 12/26/2000)