China will gradually work out a corruption punishment and prevention system with the aim of curbing corruption from the root, a senior Communist Party of China (CPC) official said Tuesday.
Wu Guanzheng, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, made the remarks during a meeting with Vongphet Saygueyachongtoua, director of the Discipline Inspection Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, and his delegation.
Wu told the Lao guests that the CPC and the Chinese government pay great attention to the fight against corruption and have stepped up the construction of the Party style and clean government.
A total of 12 provincial or ministerial-level Chinese officials were punished in 2003. In a latest case, former secretary of the CPC Guizhou Provincial Committee Liu Fangren was sentenced to life imprisonment last week for taking bribes of 6.61 million yuan (US$799,000) of Renminbi and additional US$19,900.
In a separate incident, China's Auditor-General Li Jinhua told the national legislature in late June that embezzlement of public fund was found in 55 ministries and commissions under the State Council, the central Chinese government.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao this week called on all the departments under the State Council to draw lessons from the serious problems uncovered by the audit office. Wen said all the persons who violated the laws and regulations have to be "dealt with seriously."
Wu Guanzheng said China is working hard to "eradicate corruption from the root."
"We will... build a corruption punishment and prevention system that underscores equally education, regulations and supervision," Wu acknowledged. "The new system will suit the needs of a socialist market economy."
Vongphet said members of the Lao delegation practically witnessed during the current trip to China the achievements China had made in anti-corruption in its reform and opening process.
(Xinhua News Agency July 7, 2004)
