Officials sacked for breaking Xi’s 8 frugal work provisions

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China published Tuesday six typical examples of officials who have violated President Xi Jinping's call for a more diligent and frugal work style.

The examples include a Hainan Province official who was fired for splurging tax payers' money on his friends, a Hubei Province official who was given an administrative demerit for overpaying stipends to employees, and a Jiangsu Province official who was removed from his job for taking 80 subordinates on a trip to the southern tourism city of Xiamen.

The officials who made the list breached Xi's eight provisions to better connection to the people, which were announced late last year.

Xi told government staffers they must be more frugal and not attend extravagant work conferences. He asked them to also adopt more recommendations that come from the public.

Liu Zonghong, director of the History and Research Department at the Communist Party of China Shanghai Municipal Party School, told the Global Times that the commission's announcement showed the Party's determination to root out corruption and instill a new attitude toward the use of public funds.

"We have always had rules to regulate corruption, but we never executed them well," Liu said. "This announcement warns current officials that they will be seriously punished if they violate the rules." Meting out consistent and serve punishment is the only way corruption can be tackled, said Liu.

Zhu Lijia, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Governance, told the Global Times that the commission's bulletin will only serve to embarrass officials into temporarily obeying the rules. To resolve the problem in the long term, he said, tougher anti-corruption laws should be established.

"The punishment of corrupt officials must be embedded in law. Otherwise a sacked official can easily be reinstated at some other government agency," said Zhu.