Punish officials who trade in stocks during office hours

"LET'S DELAY THE OFFICE MEETING one hour because people are busy trading". A report said a top official of a government office in the capital of an eastern province made this decision, which has drawn attention to the fact that many government officials were trading in stocks during office hours. Comments:

The fact that so many government officials could do personal work instead of attending to the demands of their jobs means there are too many of them. Some officials have complained that their salaries are rather low. So why not cut some government jobs and save taxpayers' money? And we have so many redundant government jobs that we can use the saved money to raise the salaries of the civil servants who are honest and dedicated to their jobs.

News Sichuan website, Sept 26

Besides wasting taxpayers' money, if government officials in big numbers rush into the stock market they will also increase the possibility of inside trading, because they can trade power in exchange for inside information. Such inside trading has already ruined China's A-share market and the authorities have taken measures to revive it. The authorities should consider limiting or banning certain officials from trading in stocks.

Beijing Youth Daily, Sept 26

No law forbids government officials from holding shares or trading in stocks, but discipline clearly and unambiguously requires them to do official work during office hours. Therefore, disciplinary watchdogs have the legal basis to take punitive action against them for trading in stocks during office hours, and we hope that they do so to prevent other officials from following the bad example.

cnhubei.com, Sept 25