Anti-corruption battle takes to prime-time TV

A snippet of an anti-graft documentary that began to air on Monday night by China Central Television. COURTESY OF CHINA CENTRAL TELEVISION

An anti-graft TV documentary was aired on Monday night by China Central Television with the aim of educating Party members to lead a frugal lifestyle and warn other corrupt officials, the Communist Party of China Central Commission of Discipline Inspection said on Monday.

The four-part program, jointly shot by the CCDI's publication department and CCTV, will be screened at prime time every night through Thursday and disclose details of the extravagant lives of corrupt officials "who abused their power to gain benefits for other enterprises and accepted huge bribes for either themselves or their family members, or had abnormal relationships with their mistresses", according to a statement by the CCDI.

Fighting corruption has been a top priority of the CPC Central Committee since November 2012, when the Party's new leadership took office, and President Xi Jinping has taken a series of strong measures to combat corruption.

The CPC Central Committee has also put forward a set of clean-governance rules, including requirements to lead a frugal lifestyle and cutting public expenditures on government vehicles and overseas trips to regulate the Party members.

By early December, more than 50 senior officials — provincial or ministerial-level and above — had been placed under investigation on suspicion of corruption, including Zhou Yongkang, former security chief, and Xu Caihou, former vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, according to the CCDI.

The program's production crew went to 18 provinces and regions to interview key persons, including family members of corrupt officials, private secretaries, club waiters, case informers and members of the public who had evidence of corruption.

The program will show a luxurious private club, where Wan Qingliang, former Party chief of Guangzhou, Guangdong province, often had dinner with bosses from enterprises and how Ni Fake, former vice-governor of Anhui province, used his position to gain huge benefits for other enterprises and accepted bribes of precious jade.

"We have shot more than 30 graft cases, telling stories about how central discipline inspectors worked to collect corruption clues concerning corrupt officials," said the CCDI statement.

In addition, the crew also interviewed officials with the central government and well-known scholars and experts to share their opinions on the widening anti-corruption campaign.

"The TV program reflects the major achievements in fighting against corruption since November 2012," said Li Wei, a member of the Beijing Lawyers Association.

"But above all, the TV program presents how tough a task the central government is facing to conduct an ongoing campaign to clean up the corruption at the roots," she added.

Contact the writers at zhangyan1@chinadaily.com.cn@chinadaily.com.cn and wangqian@chinadaily.com.cn