BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese city has taken its fight on corruption to the bedroom, ordering officials to own up to extramarital affairs in the hope of keeping public money out of the hands of mistresses, Xinhua news agency reported.
China has tried assorted checks and balances to curb corruption which has returned alongside market reforms after being virtually wiped out when the Communist Party swept to power in 1949.
"Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, issued a regulation in May requiring officials to report their extramarital affairs, with a belief that the stipulation could curb corruption," Xinhua said in an overnight report.
Some 95 percent of convicted corrupt officials in China had mistresses, it said without elaborating.
"In south China's economic-booming cities of Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Zhuhai, all the officials involved in the 102 corruption cases investigated in 1999 had mistresses," it said.
Legal scholars have criticised the Nanjing regulation, which also gives the government permission to interfere in outside relationships that affect "officials' family stability", for infringing on privacy and for being nearly impossible to enforce, the agency said.
"No one is willing to voluntarily speak out about their extramarital affairs," law researcher Mo Jihong was quoted as saying.
China's leaders have warned chronic corruption could topple the Communist Party, which has controlled the world's most populous nation for more than 50 years.
Almost 870,000 officials were indicted for corruption in 2004.
"Although arguments exist, one fact is undeniable," Xinhua said of the Nanjing regulation. "The Chinese government and academic society are being more innovative than ever before in the field of creating new ways to prevent and control corruption."
No comments:
Post a Comment