PLA gets tough on duty crimes

New rules released by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) show its toughening stance on duty crimes in the areas of construction, and materials and armament procurement.

The PLA rules, which came into effect Monday, detailed 44 high-risk links and more than 130 outstanding problems. It set clear preventative measures in 71 clauses under ten chapters.

The key fields identified included personnel and finance management; construction; oil management; material and armament procurement; health care; real estate; and reception services.

More than 90 percent of duty crime cases in the military occurred in these key fields, the PLA Daily said on Sunday, citing an unnamed military procuratorate officials.

Such cases often involve high ranking officials, huge amounts of money and are often related to other cases, and all disturb order and damage the military's reputation, said the official.

These key fields concern combat effectiveness and greatly affect the military's development, he said, adding that rooting out graft in these fields was a top priority.

The common crimes identified include embezzlement, bribery, unauthorized partition of state property, property, abuse of power, dereliction of duty, unauthorized trading of military real estate, the leaking of military secrets and other crimes that take advantage of one's duty.

The rules also put forward clear requirements on preventative mechanisms, warning and punishment system, as well as the functions of disciplinary, auditing and other relevant bodies.

The move is part of the PLA's wider war on graft, with several top-level generals already under investigation for legal and disciplinary violations.

The military watchdog is activity probing "some PLA members", said a National Defense Ministry spokesman last week.

The PLA last year began to examine the working practices of its organization more closely, to play its part in the Communist Party of China's (CPC) wider campaign to root out extravagance and corruption.

Previously unquestioned habits, such as gift giving, vehicle use and travel are also being scrutinized.

Former vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, Xu Caihou, has confessed to accepting bribes, said military prosecutors in October.

In March, former deputy head of the PLA general logistics department, Gu Junshan, was charged with embezzlement, bribery, misuse of state funds and abuse of power.

Xu was found to have taken advantage of his position to assist others, accepting substantial sums of money personally and through his family. He sought to profit from others in exchange for "extremely large" backhanders, according to a statement from the military procuratorate.