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Corruption hampering effort to lift people out of poverty

Source: Xinhua | April 18, 2016, Monday | Print Edition

CHINA is tightening supervision over officials in charge of its national poverty relief campaign, after investigations show the negative affect corruption has had on a campaign to lift more than 70 million people out of poverty.

In the past three years, prosecutors have investigated 2,295 officials who manage poverty alleviation — 579 in 2013, 783 in 2014, and 933 in 2015 — according to the Supreme People’s Procuratorate.

The number of officials implicated in abuse of finances for poverty relief in the past three years accounted for 1.4 percent of the total duty crimes during the period, the SPP added.

Corruption in poverty alleviation has risen almost in tandem with the rate at which poverty relief projects and funds have increased, and lax supervision has not helped, according to an unidentified official with the anti-corruption bureau under the SPP.

Investigations by the SPP show that officials at county, township and village level are most likely to be involved in duty crimes, ranging from bribery and embezzlement to dereliction of duty.

Under such circumstances, authorities in a number of provinces, including Hubei, Jiangxi, Gansu and Guizhou, have recently launched “accountability mechanisms” or “third-party mechanisms” to ensure funds are properly allocated and residents truly feel the benefit.

In northwest province of Gansu, for example, provincial authorities have hired experts from non-Party and non-government organizations to form a 66-member third-party team to supervise relief work.

The inspection team will choose poor residents at random and check if they have received enough relief money from local officials. The residents will also give scores to those in charge of the relief campaign in Gansu, where 3.17 million live below the nation’s poverty line of 2,300 yuan (US$355) in annual income.

Though the government’s poverty relief fund has nearly doubled from 2011 to 2014, results are far below expectations, with only 12.32 million people emerging from poverty in 2014, compared with 43.29 million in 2011.

Last year, Liu Yujin was listed by local officials as one of those lifted out of poverty in Zhuxi County in central China’s Hubei Province, but he is still living hand-to-mouth.

“I am illiterate, so I don’t know what the (poverty relief) documents say about me,” Liu said. “I don’t even know how I ‘got out of poverty.’”

Earlier this year, China announced a five-year campaign to crack down on corruption by officials engaged in poverty relief work.

An information sharing system will be set up to ensure all poverty alleviation funds are used effectively and transparently, the SPP said.

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