Procurators root out corruption in region

Working with more than 1,000 tipoffs of corruption, the procurators in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region dealt with nearly three-quarters of the total from January through May of 2013. Some 813 people were investigated.

Among the 759 cases dealt with, 376 involved large sums of money and nearly $11.6 million in economic loss was retrieved.

The procuratorate departments encouraged more citizens to report evidence of corrupt official behavior in a new drive in the intensifying fight against graft, said Zhang Caixia, deputy chief procurator of the Xinjiang People's Procuratorate, at a press conference.

Civilians can report via a hotline, face-to-face or through a website, Zhang said. Xinjiang is developing a new website to receive the reports but until it is ready, tipoffs can be delivered to the report center website of the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

A case involving three bureau-level officials was reported by a civilian and the regional Committee for Discipline Inspection began investigating it in July 2012.

On Oct 22, 2013, the case went to trial in the Urumqi People's court.

Meng Chuanjie, former party secretary of the Government Offices Bureau of Xinjiang, was sentenced to life in prison for taking $1.3 million in bribes.

His associate, Erken Yibulayin, the former director of the bureau, was sentenced to 12 years for accepting $276,600 in bribes.

Yu Zhengui, the former party secretary of the Xinjiang Sciences Association and Government Offices Bureau of Xinjiang, was convicted of bribery and sentenced to seven years behind bars.

China's anti-graft authorities have enhanced their supervision of corrupt activities in recent years and the work in Xinjiang is part of a nationwide effort. Zhang said the region's procuratorates departments launched a two-year effort in 2013 to investigate and root out official corruption.

At least 6,400 government officials had been punished as of June 20, after their misbehavior was exposed by inspectors from China's top anti-graft watchdog.

Officials from six provinces, two ministries and a State-owned enterprise committed violations of discipline and law, according to a statement released by the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.