Whistleblowers protection key to anti-corruption

BEIJING - A senior economic official's expulsion from the Communist Party of China (CPC) and removal from public office on Thursday marked more success in tip-offs helping fight corruption.

One lesson has to be noted: whistleblowers protection is key to real name tip-offs.

Protecting whistleblowers is the best way to encourage real-name tip-offs, so that the public could contribute to anti-corruption efforts without fear, and corrupt officials would find nowhere to hide.

Liu Tienan, former deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission and former chief of the National Energy Administration, was handed these punishments for undiscipline and law violations, the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) announced.

The CCDI said it has found Liu "took advantage of his position to seek profits for others, and both Liu and his family accepted a huge amount of money and property," among other violations.

Last December, Luo Changping, a deputy editor of Caijing magazine, used his real name on the Internet to first expose Liu's corruption.

Liu's downfall again testified to the power of real-name tip-offs in combating corruption and such practice should be encouraged and protected.

To protect whistleblowers, authorities should launch immediate investigation into the cases that are the subjects of tip-offs and making public disclosure; observing absolute confidentiality regarding the whistleblowers' personal data, and preventing such information being leaked by anti-graft officers.

Moreover, there should be legal and regulatory mechanisms under which revenge against whistleblowers is severely punished, whistleblowers who have been victims of retaliation meet with immediate assistance and those whose tip-offs prove true should be rewarded.

Liu is not the first official brought down by real-name whistleblowing on the Internet. In another prominent case, Lei Zhengfu, a former official in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality fell from grace after his sex scandal was brought to light on a website by Zhu Ruifeng, an independent investigative journalist.

In these real-name tip-off cases, authorities responded actively, which will prompt more people to make tip-offs under their real names and put corrupt officials in the people's war against corruption.