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Exposing bogus 'study tours'
By Wu Jiayin |
March 5, 2009, Thursday
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Print Edition
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CHINA has "stoutly" ordered officials at all levels not to spend public money on overseas sightseeing.
Although the order is a necessary warning to corrupt officials, its effectiveness is in doubt. It was issued in a circular on March 1, Shanghai Daily reported on Monday.
The order requires all levels of government to tighten controls over budgets and strictly follow the assessment and approval procedures for overseas business trips.
Officials should not add destinations to their itinerary, nor extend their stay.
In particular, they should not claim reimbursement for personal travel costs and should not request companies or lower-level departments to cover their trips.
Going on sightseeing tours at public expense has always been forbidden for government officials, and the latest circular is largely a reiteration of standing regulations.
The problem is that few officials ever admit they have used public money for private tours, unless they are caught.
For instance, 13 district officials in Guangdong Province recently were found to have taken a luxurious 14-day sightseeing trip in Africa and the Middle East in early 2007 - at public expense. They called it a "study tour."
The truth did not come to light until an insider posted a video clip of the trip online last month.
In another case, 11 officials in Jiangxi Province were reported to have taken a holiday in the US and Canada that was disguised as a study tour last April, People's Daily reported late last year.
The scandal surfaced in late November on the Internet where a Netizen wrote an article under the pseudonym "Chimeiwangliang 2009," saying that officials had used public money for their trip.
The author claimed to have found a bag containing documents and receipts from the officials' trips. It apparently had been forgotten by a travel agent on a Shanghai subway.
Although the leading officials in both tours were punished and all the officials involved were ordered to repay the bills, this hardly shows that the situation has improved.
In both cases, it was Netizens rather than government departments that disclosed the truth to the public.
Isn't it surprising that those local governments failed to check their own misdeeds?
Sightseeing as part of a legitimate business trip is bad enough. What is worse is to go sightseeing and claim that it's business that benefits the Chinese people.
The officials should be required to post the itineraries of their official trips in advance.
Although the order is a necessary warning to corrupt officials, its effectiveness is in doubt. It was issued in a circular on March 1, Shanghai Daily reported on Monday.
The order requires all levels of government to tighten controls over budgets and strictly follow the assessment and approval procedures for overseas business trips.
Officials should not add destinations to their itinerary, nor extend their stay.
In particular, they should not claim reimbursement for personal travel costs and should not request companies or lower-level departments to cover their trips.
Going on sightseeing tours at public expense has always been forbidden for government officials, and the latest circular is largely a reiteration of standing regulations.
The problem is that few officials ever admit they have used public money for private tours, unless they are caught.
For instance, 13 district officials in Guangdong Province recently were found to have taken a luxurious 14-day sightseeing trip in Africa and the Middle East in early 2007 - at public expense. They called it a "study tour."
The truth did not come to light until an insider posted a video clip of the trip online last month.
In another case, 11 officials in Jiangxi Province were reported to have taken a holiday in the US and Canada that was disguised as a study tour last April, People's Daily reported late last year.
The scandal surfaced in late November on the Internet where a Netizen wrote an article under the pseudonym "Chimeiwangliang 2009," saying that officials had used public money for their trip.
The author claimed to have found a bag containing documents and receipts from the officials' trips. It apparently had been forgotten by a travel agent on a Shanghai subway.
Although the leading officials in both tours were punished and all the officials involved were ordered to repay the bills, this hardly shows that the situation has improved.
In both cases, it was Netizens rather than government departments that disclosed the truth to the public.
Isn't it surprising that those local governments failed to check their own misdeeds?
Sightseeing as part of a legitimate business trip is bad enough. What is worse is to go sightseeing and claim that it's business that benefits the Chinese people.
The officials should be required to post the itineraries of their official trips in advance.
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