Officials shamed in list of violations

China's leading security body has made public 10 cases of police officers, prosecutors or judges being punished for transgressions ranging from bribe-taking and drunken driving to homicide, as part of an intensified effort to fight corruption and improve work style.

In an online news statement, the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China Central Committee also said on Tuesday that the nation's enforcement authorities should boost efforts to fight corruption and stamp out illegal activities.

On Sunday, the Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection had published its own list of incidents, such as assault and drunken driving, involving four of its own officials.

The 10 cases of disciplinary or legal violations published by the security body include five cases involving police officers, two involving prosecutors and one involving a judge.

The other two cases involve Cao Yunping, the former deputy head of the Guizhou provincial department of justice, and Liu Yong, an official with the Supreme People's Court.

Cao and several other officials were dismissed for not fulfilling their duties in keeping prohibited goods out of prisons in the province.

Liu was punished after he was found to have accepted bribes that amounted to more than 2 million yuan ($330,000).

In one of the 10 cases, Tong Jianming, a former Ministry of Public Security official in charge of identity card management, was found to have accepted more than 2.2 million yuan in bribes.

Tong, who has been expelled from the Party and stripped of his positions, has been transferred to judicial organs for prosecution.

In another case, Hu Ping, a police officer in Pingnan county, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, shot and killed one local vendor and wounded another while under the influence of alcohol on the night of Oct 28.

Hu has been expelled from the Party and his positions and prosecuted. The leading officials with the police in Pingnan have also been dismissed.

In a case involving prosecutors, Yu Lifeng, the deputy procurator general with the people's procuratorate in the Yichun district of Yichun, Heilongjiang province, was expelled from his positions and later sentenced to two years in prison after he was involved in a hit-and-run driving accident that resulted in a death.

The leading security body said some of the cases exposed problems of a "privileged mentality" and "corrupt lifestyle" among some law enforcement officials.

It said that it will publish cases of disciplinary and law violations incurred by law enforcement officers on an occasional basis starting this year.

"Police officers, prosecutors and judges have power over people's lives. Failure to constrain their power would result in more severe corruption in society," said Xu Yaotong, professor of politics at the Chinese Academy of Governance.

Xu said the authority's decision to publish the cases is aimed at further improving public supervision and emphasizing on the rule of law.

xuwei@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 02/12/2014 page3)