Heads of State-owned enterprises on the discipline inspection radar

Journalists have recently found that Sinograin storage managers in Liaoning and Jilin provinces have been embezzling public funds by conspiring with illegal grain merchants to put cheaper, previously harvested grain in storage but paying the price of freshly harvested grain to merchants. [Photo/IC]

The first teams dispatched by the Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in 2015 recently finished their inspections. Among their quarry were about 20 senior executives of central State-owned enterprises, some of who had already retired. Comments:

It is noteworthy that some of the hunted "tigers", or high-ranking corrupt officials, had already retired. The days when corrupt officials could retire instead of being punished are gone and age no longer offers a safe haven for them. It is high time corrupt officials gave up the illusion that they can escape punishment.

Ren Jianming, a professor of clean-governance research at Beihang University, May 4

As soon as the "tigers" were caught in this round of inspections, the news was released - after two years of removing obstacles and cleaning the political ecology, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection is raising its efficiency.

Zhu Lijia, a professor at Chinese Academy of Governance, May 4

There are two main channels through which senior executives of central SOEs can make illicit gains, namely by selling shares to relatives at extremely low prices or accepting bribes. Only complete auditing of SOEs can uncover these illicit acts. However, the authorities tend to hire independent accountants to audit the companies, and they are neither able nor willing to probe into the dirty tricks behind the books.

Huang Dasheng, former deputy chief of the National Audit Office, May 4

Rampant corruption among SOEs has much to do with their lack of transparency. SOE executives are the absolute heads of the enterprises under their control, while all supervisors within the system are actually their subordinates. Thus there is no power at all to prevent them from embezzling money from the company. We now expect a mechanism with more regulation over power to be established.

cjn.cn, April 28

Most of the hunted SOE "tigers" were the heads of the companies and they had absolute power, while their own staff accountants often helped hide any clues to their corruption by fabricating accounts. The inspection teams said a better system with ample supervision over power is needed to effectively curb corruption and we expect the central authorities to establish one.

zynews.com, May 4