Anti-graft project piloted in Guangdong

Guangdong will implement a property declaration system in three pilot areas, the provincial disciplinary authority said on Monday.

Guangzhou's Nansha district, Hengqin new area in the Zhuhai Special Economic Zone and Shixing county in Shaoguan have been selected for a pilot project asking officials to disclose their assets beginning after Spring Festival, according to Wang Xingning, deputy secretary of Guangdong Provincial Party Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Lunar New Year falls on Feb 10 this year.

"How the officials will report their assets and how many officials have to do so is still being studied," Wang told reporters on Monday.

"Government departments are busy studying details and introducing rules and regulations for the pilot project, which is expected to play a big part in curbing corruption in the southern province," he said.

Wang urged local anti-graft bodies and related departments to carefully study and introduce effective and concrete anti-corruption measures suited to the conditions in their areas.

Zheng Zhentao, a deputy to the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress, said 526 deputies of township level or above, and Party and government officials in Shiying will be asked to disclose their assets.

"The assets that have to be disclosed include the officials' salaries, bonuses, subsidies, other legal income, houses, cars and investments," said Zheng, who is also Party chief of Shaoguan, which administers Shixing county in northern Guangdong.

"But the officials' data will initially be on the government intranet for internal enquiries," Zheng said in Guangzhou during the annual session of Guangdong Provincial People's Congress on Sunday.

Mei Heqing, a senior official from the Guangzhou Municipal Party Commission for Discipline Inspection, said major officials' assets will be made public and opinion will be sought when the pilot project is introduced in Nansha district after Lunar New Year.

"Putting information about government operations, and government and Party officials in the public domain to make it more transparent will be an effective way to prevent and limit corruption," Mei said.

According to Mei, the municipal government sent representatives to visit the bordering Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions this month to learn about their successful anti-graft experiences and to expand cooperation in this field.

Hengqin new area, adjacent to Macao, has also established a special anti-corruption office with officials and experts from the local Party commission of discipline inspection and the departments of supervision, public security, taxation, industry and commerce to help introduce the pilot project and fight corruption in the following months.

Many senior officials in Guangdong have favored disclosing assets.

Chen Jianhua, mayor of Guangzhou, Xu Qin, mayor of Shenzhen, and Liu Yuelun, mayor of Foshan, have all expressed their willingness to disclose their assets if such a system is introduced.

Xiao Bin, a professor at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, said introducing the pilot project demonstrates authorities' determination to establish a system to prevent and fight corruption.

Guangdong's top anti-graft body investigated 38 corruption cases, involving 38 prefecture-level officials in 2012.

Zhou Zhenhong, a former member of the Standing Committee of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, and head of the province's united front work department, was removed from his posts for serious violations of Party discipline and State laws at the beginning of 2012.