More than 140,000 officials across the country were subjected to Party and government disciplinary action, with 777 of them transferred to judicial authority which resulted in the recovery of 8.44 billion yuan ($1.34 billion), according to the Ministry of Supervision. The amount of the recovery reflects the government's determination to combat corruption and shows how deep-rooted it has become, says an article in People's Daily. Excerpts:

Among people under investigation are bigwigs such as Liu Zhijun, former railway minister, and Tian Xueren, former deputy governor of Jilin province. But not only high-ranking officials, but also local officials deserve to be closely observed. In fact, it's easier for "low-level" officials to find a loophole in the system and use it for their own benefit without being caught.

The fact that corrupt local officials get to enjoy a major share of the fruits of social development reminds us that drastic systematic measures should be implemented to manage them.

Deng Xiaoping said two decades ago that "distributing wealth after getting rich" will become a big issue. As he predicted, "it would take Chinese people 30 years to form a set of more mature and better-shaped systems in all aspects that could produce standard guidelines and policies".

Only with the help of proper supervision can power at all levels be made transparent. And only if effective systems of declaration of wealth and year-end assessment are applied properly can corruption be eradicated.

(China Daily 01/11/2012 page9)