Officials lost promotions over false information reports

Dozens of inspected officials failed to disclose financial or family information accurately

Dozens of officials from six municipalities, provinces and regions lost their chance to be promoted because of their failure to report personal information fully and honestly.

Beijing, Shanghai, Jilin, Shaanxi, Hubei and Guangxi recently announced the results of a personal-information inspection of officials who were in line for promotion. Some of the officials were denied promotions because they concealed personal information or reported it falsely, according to a Beijing Youth Daily report on Sunday.

Six officials from the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and six from Hubei province were transferred to discipline inspection authorities after the examination, and Shaanxi province canceled the appointment of an official who had been appointed county Party secretary because of the official's attempt to conceal personal information such as real estate, bank savings and marketable securities, the report said.

The Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Central Committee of Communist Party of China said on its website on Saturday that Tianjin municipality has been following a policy since January requiring all officials to report personal information and receive an information inspection before any promotion.

Ten other cities, provinces and regions released their inspection results for last year earlier this month, expressing a determination to carry on the reporting and inspection system this year.

The reporting system started in 2010, when a Party regulation was imposed requiring officials to disclose personal information to the human resources departments of the Party and government annually, although there was little inspection in the beginning.

Closer inspections of the personal information in 2014 was part of a broad move to supervise officials more strictly, and inspection results were tied to promotions.

Inspections were conducted mainly through random checks of the personal information the official handed in on a form.

The form, released by the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee in January, consists of two parts. One part deals with basic information about the official and his or her children, including marital status and travel abroad; the other deals with the official's wealth, including real estate, salaries or other income.

Both parts require specific and detailed information. For example, questions ask when the official, or his or her spouse or children, traveled abroad for private reasons, where they went, whether the trip involved tourism or visits to family or friends, whether the officials' children married foreigners and whether any had immigrated to another country.

An official's wealth－including such things as painting or calligraphy collections, income from book publishing, family investments in stock markets or companies－must be reported honestly. Otherwise the official will not be promoted.

Mao Shoulong, a professor of public governance at Renmin University of China, said the reporting and inspection system provides a helping hand for the ongoing anti-corruption campaign.

"It will help officials figure out which information cannot be concealed, and they will avoid improper activities related to those areas," he said.