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Report: Officials' 2008 appetite for graft 3 times larger than 2007

By Song Wei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-02-24 18:15

Some officials' appetite for money has grown three times more than in 2007, according to research by Fawan Newspaper, a Beijing-based law and politics paper, released on Sunday.

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The research was conducted from November 2008 to February 2009, and its samples were drawn from 100 officials, both from government and state-owned enterprises who were found guilty of taking bribes.

Among the 100 officials, three are high-level ministers, 35 are director-generals, and the other 62 are division chiefs.

The research finds that the average bribe in 2008 was 8.84 million yuan, more than three times the 2.53 million yuan amount in 2007.

The average age of officials who accepted graft in 2008 was 50.8 -- 2.5 years younger than in 2007.

Officials aged between 46 and 50-years-old were more inclined to accept graft – with 15 million yuan on average. They were followed by those in their 50s and 60s, averaging 14 million yuan, and those aged between 36 and 40 with 2.36 million yuan.

The research also reveals that although the largest number of bribery cases are from fields like real estate and engineering, the biggest monetary graft amount comes from the finance and trade fields, where the average bribe accepted was 17 million yuan. The transportation field was next at nearly 12 million yuan on average.

Hu Xingdong, an anti-corruption expert and a professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology, analyzed the results of the research saying: "Men have usually achieved a lot when they reach the age of 40. So when officials are older than 45 and at the peak of their career, they feel quite good about themselves, as they have a lot of power. If they aren't self-disciplined, there is a very high chance for them to make mistakes because there isn't much supervision of their authority. "

"The higher a man climbs, the more power he gets, the more supervision and self-control he needs," Hu continued. "That's why they should be educated on focusing on their work; and while they should be self-disciplined on the one hand, there should be stricter punishment for those violators on the other."

The results of younger bureaucrats getting involved in graft are due to their inexperience, says He Zhengke, an anti-graft expert. Younger officials rush into making a decision because they are comparatively inexperienced, and they feel it's harder to say "no" to corruption since their immunity to bribery is weak.

"The slim chance for promotion also leads to corruption," He added. "If an official feels he is likely to get promoted, he would usually devote all his efforts to work; but when he feels that the chances are slim, they are liable to turn to money and step into 'dark water'."

"That's why there should be some changes in the personnel selection mechanism," He said. "In some places, one does not have any chance to get promoted if he or she is considered 'overage'."

Last year, the country's discipline inspection and supervisory departments at different levels carried out investigations into 128,516 cases and closed 127,949 of them, punishing 133,951 in accordance to Party discipline and government rules, and transferring 4,518 to prosecutors for criminal investigation.

This year, the Party will seriously implement various regulations on supervision and self-discipline of leading officials, including rules on accepting cash and other valuables, reporting activities of their spouse and children to the authorities, involvement in building extra houses for their units, and officials providing convenience to each other's connections in employment, investment and business activities, according to He Guoqiang, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee's Political Bureau. He made the remarks in a report to a plenary session of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection on January 12.

Hu emphasizes that a lot more still needs to be done, like increasing Internet supervision and setting up local websites so the public can report corrupt officials. The key point of anti-corruption should be shifted from punishment afterwards to prevention beforehand, said Hu.