Claims posted online bring down top planning official
By Richard Fu |
May 15, 2013, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE vice chairman of China's top planning agency has been sacked following allegations of corruption posted online by a journalist.
Liu Tienan was dismissed from his post at the National Development and Reform Commission for "serious discipline violations," Xinhua news agency said yesterday, citing the Communist Party's Organization Department.
Liu could be the first ministerial-level official to be brought down by accusations first posted on the Internet, and his downfall is also the latest in a crackdown after President Xi Jinping warned that corruption could lead to the demise of the Party.
The sacking demonstrates the power of China's online community as an anti-corruption force, Xinhua said.
In December, Luo Changping, deputy managing director of Caijing magazine, posted a number of allegations about Liu on his Sina Weibo microblog.
Luo accused Liu of colluding with a businessman for benefits, falsifying his education background, and threatening to kill his mistress.
In a posting on Monday on his Sina Weibo microblog, Luo wrote that he had spent a year verifying and cross-checking the accusations against Liu.
Liu, until March also head of the National Energy Administration, was in Moscow with Vice Premier Wang Qishan for an energy conference when the scandal first broke.
The National Energy Administration issued immediate denials, telling a Beijing newspaper Luo's claims were "pure slander."
Yesterday's news that Liu had been sacked followed an announcement on Sunday by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection that Liu was being investigated. The commission is headed by Vice Premier Wang.
Sex scandal
Liu, 58, is not the first official to have been brought down by whistleblowing on the Internet.
In another prominent case in November, Lei Zhengfu was dismissed as Party chief of southwestern Chongqing's Beibei District after a sex scandal was brought to light on a website by investigative journalist Zhu Ruifeng.
The downfall of Liu suggests that the Party welcomes netizens to join the anti-corruption campaign and encourages them to report officials' wrongdoing under their real names, said Zhou Shuzhen, a politics professor at the Renmin University of China.
From April 19, a number of major news and commercial portals have provided links on their home pages to official tip-off websites of the commission and the Organization Department, as well as the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Supreme People's Court and the Ministry of Land and Resources.
Daily page views of the five websites have more than tripled and the number of reports they received almost doubled, according to statistics issued by the State Internet Information Office.
A statement on the portals promotes the use of real names by whistleblowers and warns against fabricated reports and fake evidence.
"Those who slander others will be seriously dealt with and even be held legally responsible," it reads.
Though the role of the Internet in fighting corruption has proved effective, some false or malicious tip-offs offered anonymously had tarnished innocent people's reputations, Xin Ming, a professor with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, said.
Anonymous tip-offs also added to the difficulty of follow-up investigations, Xin said.
Real-name reporting could help investigators handle cases faster and more efficiently and thus prevent corrupt officials from fleeing the country, said Yang Lan, a junior staff member with the government of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.
By the end of 2012, the number of Internet users in China had reached 564 million. The community contributed 12 percent of the clues leading to corruption probes, or 300,100 pieces of information, received by the commission and the Ministry of Supervision from 2008 to 2012, said Zhang Shaolong, deputy director of the letters and calls office under the commission.
Ren Jianming, a professor of public management with the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, called for legislation to protect the rights of whistleblowers who fear retaliation from powerful officials.
Ren said the government needs to reassure the public. "Only when the public fully trust the disciplinary agency and believe it will spring into action upon their reports, will they dare to blow the whistle using real names."
Liu Tienan was dismissed from his post at the National Development and Reform Commission for "serious discipline violations," Xinhua news agency said yesterday, citing the Communist Party's Organization Department.
Liu could be the first ministerial-level official to be brought down by accusations first posted on the Internet, and his downfall is also the latest in a crackdown after President Xi Jinping warned that corruption could lead to the demise of the Party.
The sacking demonstrates the power of China's online community as an anti-corruption force, Xinhua said.
In December, Luo Changping, deputy managing director of Caijing magazine, posted a number of allegations about Liu on his Sina Weibo microblog.
Luo accused Liu of colluding with a businessman for benefits, falsifying his education background, and threatening to kill his mistress.
In a posting on Monday on his Sina Weibo microblog, Luo wrote that he had spent a year verifying and cross-checking the accusations against Liu.
Liu, until March also head of the National Energy Administration, was in Moscow with Vice Premier Wang Qishan for an energy conference when the scandal first broke.
The National Energy Administration issued immediate denials, telling a Beijing newspaper Luo's claims were "pure slander."
Yesterday's news that Liu had been sacked followed an announcement on Sunday by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection that Liu was being investigated. The commission is headed by Vice Premier Wang.
Sex scandal
Liu, 58, is not the first official to have been brought down by whistleblowing on the Internet.
In another prominent case in November, Lei Zhengfu was dismissed as Party chief of southwestern Chongqing's Beibei District after a sex scandal was brought to light on a website by investigative journalist Zhu Ruifeng.
The downfall of Liu suggests that the Party welcomes netizens to join the anti-corruption campaign and encourages them to report officials' wrongdoing under their real names, said Zhou Shuzhen, a politics professor at the Renmin University of China.
From April 19, a number of major news and commercial portals have provided links on their home pages to official tip-off websites of the commission and the Organization Department, as well as the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Supreme People's Court and the Ministry of Land and Resources.
Daily page views of the five websites have more than tripled and the number of reports they received almost doubled, according to statistics issued by the State Internet Information Office.
A statement on the portals promotes the use of real names by whistleblowers and warns against fabricated reports and fake evidence.
"Those who slander others will be seriously dealt with and even be held legally responsible," it reads.
Though the role of the Internet in fighting corruption has proved effective, some false or malicious tip-offs offered anonymously had tarnished innocent people's reputations, Xin Ming, a professor with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, said.
Anonymous tip-offs also added to the difficulty of follow-up investigations, Xin said.
Real-name reporting could help investigators handle cases faster and more efficiently and thus prevent corrupt officials from fleeing the country, said Yang Lan, a junior staff member with the government of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.
By the end of 2012, the number of Internet users in China had reached 564 million. The community contributed 12 percent of the clues leading to corruption probes, or 300,100 pieces of information, received by the commission and the Ministry of Supervision from 2008 to 2012, said Zhang Shaolong, deputy director of the letters and calls office under the commission.
Ren Jianming, a professor of public management with the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, called for legislation to protect the rights of whistleblowers who fear retaliation from powerful officials.
Ren said the government needs to reassure the public. "Only when the public fully trust the disciplinary agency and believe it will spring into action upon their reports, will they dare to blow the whistle using real names."
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