Hangzhou offers rewards for tips on corruption

The Hangzhou People's Procuratorate is offering rewards as high as 10,000 yuan ($1,605) to whistleblowers who provide information on corrupt officials, to encourage residents to join its anti-corruption campaign.

For extremely important information, there is no maximum reward.

"Tip-offs from citizens are an important means for us to discover and investigate corruption cases," said Ye Yuqiu, deputy chief procurator of the Hangzhou People's Procuratorate, on Tuesday.

From January 2013 to last month, procuratorate departments of the city received 867 reports of corruption, of which 376 were from anonymous sources. Investigation departments have since dealt with 561 of those.

"Much of this information is highly important," Ye said.

Ye said the procuratorate values reports from the public and has set up a center to receive them.

"For those who report using their real names, we promise that each report will be seriously addressed," she said.

On the first and 15th day of each month, the chief procurator and deputy chief procurator will personally meet people who have made such reports.

Zhang Xin, a former deputy chief of the Hangzhou Housing Security and Management Bureau, was reported to have taken bribes of 124 million yuan when at that post. He was charged with embezzlement, accepting bribes and abuse of power this month. The case was started after information on Zhang was reported by the public.