Public scrutiny will help defeat fraud, poverty fight chief says

China's top poverty relief authority will use the sunlight of public scrutiny to tackle fund embezzlement and misconduct in the sector, a senior official said on Wednesday.

Liu Yongfu, director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, said apart from strengthening supervision, the authority will also institutionalize publicizing poverty reduction programs and funds to curb misconduct.

"Public scrutiny will intimidate embezzlers (when central supervision fails)," he said, adding that those who persist in misconduct will pay a heavy price.

The director said that so far 80,000 people have been punished for misconduct, including embezzling poverty relief funds, manipulating numbers and results, since 2015.

Though misconduct does exist in the sector, Liu said the vast majority and the core of the anti-poverty force is free from any corruptive influence, and they have contributed a great deal to pulling 68 million rural poor out of dire poverty in the past five years.

"More than 400 grassroots officials fell ill on the frontline in the battle against poverty, some even gave their lives,’" he said. Their sacrifice, he added, proves our resolve.