Break the circle of corrupt officials rising from lower to higher levels

Guo Zhenggang, former deputy political commissar of the Military Command of Zhejiang province was placed under investigation on Mar 2. [Photo provided]

According to central Commission for Discipline Inspection, many corrupt officials began breaking the law and violating Party disciplines when they were the heads of lower-ranking agencies. In some provinces over half of the senior officials caught by the anti-corruption campaign were promoted despite being suspected of being involved in corruption previously. Comments:

When corrupt officials are promoted to higher positions, they will in turn promote those who were involved in their corruption, thus ruining the political ecology in the long run. One of the main causes is that local Party and government chiefs have too big a say in deciding whom to promote, and sometimes they make decisions themselves, ignoring all other advices. It is necessary to limit such a monopoly over power and allow ordinary people to express their objections to candidates for promotion, so that even if a leading official is corrupt, he or she will have difficulty in promoting his corrupt subordinates.

china.com.cn, May 12

Many officials promote lower-ranking colleagues after taking bribes from them, with the latter deriving more illegal gains and paying bigger bribes, which forms a vicious circle. When a leading official is found to have long been involved in corruption, it is necessary to investigate and find who promoted the official, and who helped the official acquire his or her current post, so as to break that circle.

Xinhua Daily Telegraph, May 12

When officials at the grassroots level become corrupt, disciplinary and judicial agencies often tend to forgive them because their illegal gains are generally limited in quantity, and the harm they do by misusing their power is not that great.

Some low-ranking corrupt officials, therefore, only receive light penalties for their misdeeds and remain in their jobs. This is a bad practice because the lower ranking corrupt officials that go unpunished could rise through the ranks. It is necessary to strictly enforce the law and Party disciplines in order to nip corrupt officials in the bud.

southcn.com, May 12

Many leading local officials tolerate corrupt colleagues and promote them even if they are corrupt because they live in the same community and have many relationships in common. This requires the inspection teams sent by the provincial or central authorities to play a bigger role. They are authorized by a higher authority and should not hesitate to find corruption clues and dig deeper.

Beijing News, May 12