Beijing procuratorate supports online anti-graft drive

Beijing's procuratorate organs have set up a special team to collect online information that exposes corrupt officials, a top Beijing prosecutor said on Saturday.

Mu Ping, chief prosecutor of the People's Procuratorate in Beijing, said during a meeting at the Beijing Municipal People's Congress that once the team confirms the validity of a source from the Internet, the procuratorate will immediately move in to investigate.

"Cracking down on corruption has always been our top priority," said Mu, adding that the procuratorate has pressed charges against 2,308 corrupt officials and reclaimed 1.66 billion yuan ($263 million) in government assets over the past five years.

Mu was not the only government official to have voiced an opinion on the online anti-corruption campaign during the current local legislative session. Ye Qingchun, secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection, said yesterday during a discussion session that information on Weibo had led to the internal discipline department uncovering a number of corrupt officials.

"Some accusations were libel, but the majority of the information shown on the Internet has proven to be correct," said Ye.

Ye believes that the online campaign needs to be legalized and institutionalized in the future. "People must be responsible for the words that come out of their mouths. What we are trying to prevent is slander."

Online anti-corruption efforts have thrived in China as more cases of corruption are exposed by online whistleblowers. The most recent case involved 10 government officials from Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality who were sacked for sex tape scandals.

While many on the Internet cheered the fall of these corrupt officials, others were worried about the public thirst for such scandals and rabid hatred toward officials.

"The online anti-corruption campaign only solves the problem at the superficial level," He Bing, vice dean of the Law School of the China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times on Sunday. "The Internet anti-corruption movement intensifies the trust crisis between the people and the government. What we need urgently is to improve the system to curb corruption."