Report: Lovers not reliable in exposing graft cases
Source: Agencies |
May 30, 2013, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINA must not rely on whistle-blowing mistresses to expose corrupt officials, China's top newspaper said yesterday, after a string of such incidents has led to some people hailing the women as graft-busters.
In a recent high-profile case, Liu Tienan, once the deputy chief of the National Development and Reform Commission, was sacked after his mistress told a journalist Liu had helped defraud banks of US$200 million.
But the People's Daily, the ruling Communist Party's official newspaper, questioned the woman's motives and said China could not rely on such people to fight corruption.
"Even though at times, for many reasons, mistresses are led by fallings out with corrupt officials to denounce them, at the root of the issue, both their motives are the same - to satisfy each other's greed," the newspaper said in an editorial.
"Some directly solicit bribes or seek huge illegal profits. To pin anti-corruption hopes on them is to go in for evil attacking evil," it said. "It is not the right path for the people."
The paper noted another case in which a tape that showed a district Party chief having sex with his mistress went viral on the Weibo microblog. The official, Lei Zhengfu, was sacked, along with several others in the city of Chongqing.
His mistress, 24-year-old Zhao Hongxia, was charged with extortion this month for her alleged part in a criminal ring that blackmailed officials by secretly filming sex sessions.
Zhao has become something of a national anti-hero, eliciting condemnation from those who called her behavior immoral even as others commended her for helping bring down Lei.
In a recent high-profile case, Liu Tienan, once the deputy chief of the National Development and Reform Commission, was sacked after his mistress told a journalist Liu had helped defraud banks of US$200 million.
But the People's Daily, the ruling Communist Party's official newspaper, questioned the woman's motives and said China could not rely on such people to fight corruption.
"Even though at times, for many reasons, mistresses are led by fallings out with corrupt officials to denounce them, at the root of the issue, both their motives are the same - to satisfy each other's greed," the newspaper said in an editorial.
"Some directly solicit bribes or seek huge illegal profits. To pin anti-corruption hopes on them is to go in for evil attacking evil," it said. "It is not the right path for the people."
The paper noted another case in which a tape that showed a district Party chief having sex with his mistress went viral on the Weibo microblog. The official, Lei Zhengfu, was sacked, along with several others in the city of Chongqing.
His mistress, 24-year-old Zhao Hongxia, was charged with extortion this month for her alleged part in a criminal ring that blackmailed officials by secretly filming sex sessions.
Zhao has become something of a national anti-hero, eliciting condemnation from those who called her behavior immoral even as others commended her for helping bring down Lei.
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