A court in Huainan city, Anhui province, recently ordered the education bureau of Xiejiaji district to pay a fine of 200,000 yuan ($31,560) because it had received kickbacks from a bookstore. A government department being convicted of the crime of accepting bribes as a unit is very rare in China, and the case has attracted widespread attention.
From 2006 to 2011, the Xiejiaji District education bureau required local schools to purchase textbooks from Huainan Xinhua Bookstore, receiving more than 520,000 yuan in kickbacks from the bookstore.
The kickbacks were used as subsidies for ailing members of staff and to support the families of staff who died.
Experts say that although the Xiejiaji education bureau's corruption was not that serious, the court's decision has set a legal precedent and sent a signal that China's anti-graft campaign will not make government authorities an exception in the fight against corruption.
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