Checking corruption should include public supervision of
officials' family members, says a commentary of the Beijing
Youth Daily. An excerpt follows:
According to a recent interview with an official working in the
Supreme People's Procuratorate, family members are increasingly
involved in the corruption cases of officials. It is therefore
highly possible to publicize the occupations of the officials'
family members as part of the attempt to check corruption.
It would be a realistic and effective tactic against corruption
if the occupations of the officials' family members are known to
the public.
In recent years, authorities at all levels had required that
officials should report the jobs of their spouses and children. But
such reports are only internal records of the discipline
department.
If the report is released to the public through government web
site or even the news media, the public, instead of the supervision
department within the government and the party, will keep an eye on
the officials and their families. Obviously, the supervision would
be much stronger.
There have been a series of stipulations about the professions
of the family members of officials, especially of the key officials
in local governments. But it is hard to judge whether all these
stipulations have been observed.
More importantly, some officials invented numerous tricks to
bypass the stipulations, like cooperating with other officials to
make mutual benefits. All these malpractices are not easy to detect
by the internal discipline officials while the public will find out
easily once they are empowered.
Publicizing the occupation of officials' family members has been
in practice in some cities and experiences have been accumulated.
There is reason to believe it could lend a strong hand to check
corruption once promoted widely.
(China Daily June 9, 2007)