Provincial anti-graft chief tells disciplinary officials: ‘It’s not about having most cases’

A chief provincial graft-buster has warned disciplinary officials not to obsess about achieving large numbers of cases to prove they are committed to the anti-corruption drive.

Instead they should stay true to the facts, said Huang Jianguo, of Hunan province’s Commission for Discipline Inspection, speaking as the nation’s provincial discipline committees hold their annual plenary sessions to showcase their achievements last year in the fight against rampant corruption.

More than 230 government department heads in the province had been penalised for breaching party discipline, while more than 4,900 officials of various ranks were investigated as part of the anti-extravagance campaign, he told the Southern Metropolis Daily.

“Some people are saying the number is not large enough, that our province should have seen more top-ranking officials sacked,” he said.

“But I think regional discipline committees should not be competing with each other to try to achieve the largest number of anti-graft cases.

“We should not make anti-graft the second GDP,” said Huang, referring to the fierce competition between provinces to achieve the highest economic growth rate, which was the major criterion on which local officials were judged during performance and promotion reviews.