Targeting graft

With the majority of Chinese families still struggling to obtain ordinary housing, one local civil servant in South China's Guangdong Province caused a huge scandal when it was found that he possessed over 20 properties.

Cai Bin, a senior urban management official in Guangzhou's Panyu district, was stripped of his post after being found to own 22 houses estimated to be worth 40 million yuan ($6.4 million), even more than online whistleblowers had earlier revealed.

The Guangzhou disciplinary watchdog announced on October 22 that Cai had accepted bribes during his tenure in the Panyu police authority and urban management bureau, and had also run a number of illegal businesses.

Meanwhile, Cai's son has reportedly obtained Australian citizenship, a popular method adopted by a growing number of corrupt officials to transfer their illegitimate gains and flee the country.

This typical anti-graft case, exposed through microblogs, soon set off an online buzz. Because of its effectiveness, many people are pinning their hopes of uncovering more greedy officials on the emerging platform, while others put more stock in the long-anticipated asset declaration and disclosure system.

Believed to be an effective approach to curbing the scourge of corruption, the establishment of the mechanism has been widely viewed as a significant step in pushing political reform, especially at a time when the new leadership prepares to come into power after the 18th CPC National Congress, scheduled to convene on November 8.

Growing passion

The case of Cai, the former deputy director of the Panyu urban management bureau, now nicknamed "Uncle House," is just the latest in a string of corruption scandals exposed by Web users.

Yang Dacai, chief of the Work Safety Bureau in Shaanxi Province, was turfed out of office after suspicions of corruption were raised last Month, also thanks to the power of the Internet.

Yang had initially made headlines after Web users spotted him in a picture smiling at the scene of a fatal traffic accident in late August. But more eagle-eyed netizens soon found him sporting a luxury wristwatch, triggering a massive search that led to different pictures of him wearing 10 expensive watches, pricy glasses and belts.

Again, the "smiling bureau chief" was promptly added to the local disciplinary authority's list of scalps.

This led to more online cat-and-mouse campaigns, but some argued that such victories claimed by the masses were flukes at best, and likened them to "throwing bricks from outside a wall."

"It's a good social trend, which reflects the fact that traditional mechanisms can't meet people's expectations on corruption crackdowns and need improving," said Han Deyun, a lawyer in Chongqing, who as a deputy to the National People's Congress has devoted himself to pushing for transparency of government officials' assets.

Han told the Global Times that while the effects of online anti-corruption efforts are limited, they will undoubtedly serve as a stimulus for a reform of the current flawed system.

Encouragingly, during this campaign against corrupt officials, a group of young people has emerged as a promising force in calling for change. Since Yang's case, three university students have asked relevant government departments to disclose the incomes of officials suspected of graft.

Yang Fan, a 19-year-old university student in Chongqing, applied in early October to see the overall income of Li Dejin, director of the Fujian provincial transport department, in 2011, including his salaries and various bonuses. Li had been the latest official outed by Web users as being partial to luxury wristwatches and belts.

"I am not sure if they will reveal such information, but the result is not important. I just hope that what I do can affect more people," the sophomore told the Global Times.

Yang attributed the corruption epidemic to the lack of a sound legal system and effective monitoring, adding that more grass-roots forces are needed to promote transparency of government information.

While the debate continues on the means that should be used, the public is agreed on the need for officials and their families to disclose their assets.

Persistent attempts

Following Cai's fall from grace, Guangzhou's disciplinary inspection commission announced that a family asset declaration pilot project would be launched in the city's Nansha district. It's reported that authorities including the housing administration and exit-entry administration will be included to ensure the authenticity of information provided.

But the commission seems unwilling to talk about the plan. Its publicity director, surnamed Wang, refused to reveal any details when reached by the Global Times. "It's just been initiated and no information is available," he said.

In fact, such a move is not new, considering the number of regulations and measures put in place in recent years. As far back as the 1980s, proposals requiring civil servants to report their assets had been put forward.

In April 1995, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued a regulation requiring cadres above county-level to report their incomes.

After a slew of similar provisions were initiated, the two organs in 2010 upgraded the regulation, adding that the property, investment and business status of both officials and their children and spouses also need to be declared.

In January 2009, Aletai in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region launched the measures on a trial basis, requiring anyone in positions of authority to declare their incomes, including salaries, bonuses, stocks and securities, among other assets.

Hailed as a pioneering move nationwide, the attempt inspired great hope, but was put on hold after the man who initiated it passed away a year later, the Nanfang Daily reported. Meanwhile, similar attempts in cities such as Liuyang in Hunan Province and Cixi in Zhejiang Province have also seen little progress, or even been suspended.

Han said any attempts to bring about transparency would be doomed without the support of a mature mechanism, which should be safeguarded by law.

China began to implement the Civil Servant Law in January 2006, but did not make any mention of the declaration and disclosure of officials' assets.

Lin Zhe, a professor specializing in anti-corruption at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, said it would be difficult for the work to be carried forward when policymakers are also involved in abuse of power.

Currently, explorations of similar measures are taking place mainly in lower-level administrative regions. In late September, assets of 14 officials slated for promotion in Zhejiang's Pan'an county were unveiled on the county government's website, including their annual incomes, properties, cars and investment gains.

An employee with the Organization Department of the Pan'an Party committee, who requested anonymity, told the Global Times that the pilot campaign had been launched by the city government. He said the information was reported by officials, and anything that had been under-reported or concealed could only be exposed by the public's supervision and whistle-blowing efforts.

"But we received no reports from the public during the week-long publicity period," said the employee, adding that they are still looking into setting up the system on a long-term basis. "We face great pressure."

Challenge for the Party

Han said fighting against corruption by establishing an effective mechanism to make officials' assets transparent will be an integral part of political reform in view of the continuing grave situation.

The most recent figures from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC (CCDI) showed that procuratorial and discipline inspection authorities across the country investigated more than 640,000 corruption cases from November 2007 to June this year, and confiscated 1.58 billion yuan in illegitimate gains, reported the Xinhua News Agency.

Premier Wen Jiabao warned in March during the State Council's annual conference on anti-corruption work that graft is still a prominent problem among officials. "Corruption is the biggest threat to the ruling party," said Wen, noting that the nation's political foundations could be completely undermined if the problems aren't properly addressed.

According to Han, who has put forward the proposal to disclose officials' assets to the nation's top legislature for seven consecutive years as a deputy, authorities have shown signs of progress.

"In the beginning, I was told that conditions are not ripe to launch such a system, but the tone has obviously changed as the central disciplinary body said they are 'considering how to push forward the issue' in a response to my latest proposal," Han said.

Wu Yuliang, deputy secretary of the CCDI, said during a press conference in June 2011 that the lack of two conditions was hampering the creation of the mechanism - the public's trust in the information released being accurate and an effective means of verifying the information.

"It will definitely be a challenge for the Party, whose capacity to govern will be improved if it stands the test," said Han.

Lin pointed out that a verification process is essential, and can be realized by incorporating disciplinary and financial organs, banks as well as grass-roots representatives.

In Cai's case, he just declared two houses to the government in previous disclosure reports, and no one cast any doubt on his claims.

"The information should then be made public to a certain extent for monitoring, or this work will be meaningless," she added.

Han noted that authorities should be cautious before launching the mechanism, as it would cause massive social controversy if inappropriately implemented.

"The levels of officials, asset patterns and the scope and means of disclosure are all things that need to be dealt with carefully," he said, adding that despite challenges and difficulties, people have to realize that there is "no space to dodge the issue."

"Corresponding punishments are an important aspect that can't be shunned in its creation," said Lin.