Railway corruption crackdown called for

BEIJING -- China's supreme procuratorate on Monday called for an intensified crackdown on officials abusing positions of power in the railway sector.

Efforts will be centered on crimes involving ticket sales, construction projects and procurement and supply of materials, according to a statement from the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP).

The nation's railway procuratorates have investigated 15,100 people involved in 13,400 duty-related cases over the past 30 years, and helped avoid an economic loss of over 2.6 billion yuan ($410 million), said the statement.

Jiang Jianchu, deputy procurator-general of the SPP, urged local railway procuratorates to severely punish officials for bribery and appropriating public funds, especially those whose actions lead to major safety accidents, for their dereliction of duties.

Jiang listed Zhang Ning, the former chief accountant of the Lanzhou Lanzhou Railway Bureau in western China, and Song Dexi, formerly director of the Urumqi Railway Bureau in the northwest Xinjiang as negative examples.

Zhang was sentenced to death in 2007 for embezzling over 2 billion yuan in public funds, while Song was given life imprisonment for serious corruption in 2008.

The country's former railway minister, Liu Zhijun, was also expelled from the Communist of China for corruption in May following the high-speed train collision that left 40 people dead and 172 injured near the eastern city of Wenzhou last year.

Jiang urged procuratorates to handle railway-related cases in a timely manner to ensure the sector maintains order and safeguard the people's safety and interests.

After a three-year transfer process, all 76 railway transport procuratorates across the nation had been put under the unilateral control of the justice system by July and are now directly administered by provincial or municipal procuratorate authorities.

These procuratorates, designed to deal with procuratorial work relating to crimes on trains and violations of the country's railway-related special laws, were previously under the dual administration of both the procuratorate system and the railway authorities.

The separation has further demonstrated the duty of the railway procuratorates as procuratorial authorities as well as helping to enhance their work efficiency, said Cao Jianming, procurator-general the SPP.

Railway procuratorates at all levels should regard safeguarding railway safety as their primary task, maintain railway order and protect public funds allocated for railway construction, Cao said.

Railway procuratorates are in a crucial period of reform and development, the SPP chief said. He urged all procuratorial personnel to deal well with their jobs after the transfer and resolve new problems emerging in the railway sector.