China punishes 5,000 officials for corruption

September 20th, 2009 BEIJING - "I cannot do business in China without bribing people," the representative of a German company in Beijing complained. "At headquarters, they always say we should stay clean and not pay any bribes, but then you wouldn't get anywhere here," the businessman said, explaining his dilemma when attempting to conquer the huge Chinese market corruption-free.

September 20th, 2009 China wants officials to disclose assets to partyBEIJING — The top anti-graft body of China's Communist Party plans to require government officials to disclose details of their investments and information about their family members as part of an ongoing effort to curb corruption seen as a major threat to political stability. China has long struggled against corruption among high-level Communist Party officials and it is often a focal point of protests by ordinary Chinese.

August 15th, 2009 China fires nuclear power head after investigationBEIJING — The Chinese government fired the head of its nuclear power program after launching an investigation into allegations of corruption, state media said. No reason was given for the dismissal of Kang Rixin, the general manager of China National Nuclear Corporation — the biggest owner of nuclear power plants in China.

August 15th, 2009 PATNA - Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has promised the people of the state better infrastructure and more measures to curb corruption in the administration. Kumar was speaking after hoisting the national flag at the Independence Day programme in Gandhi Maidan here on Saturday.

July 4th, 2009 China punishes officials after babies takenBEIJING — Chinese authorities have punished six government officials after three baby girls whose parents were still alive were sent to an orphanage in southern China that subsequently put them up for adoption overseas, state media and an official said. Family planning officials in impoverished Guizhou province's Zhenyuan County sent the babies to a state-run orphanage during 2003 and 2004 without properly investigating their backgrounds, the county government said on its Web site.

May 9th, 2009 UNITED NATIONS - Chief executives from some of the world's leading companies, including Tata Sons of India, have thrown their support behind a United Nations treaty aimed at combating corruption. In a letter addressed to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the CEOs noted that the UN Convention against Corruption - signed by 140 countries and ratified by 136 to date - holds 'the promise of curbing corruption and creates a level playing field for all participants in the global economy.' The letter characterised the Convention as 'an essential instrument in the fight against corruption,' which is crucial in the current period of financial and economic turmoil to prevent an 'erosion of ethical standards that will be hard to reverse.' They also underscored the importance for the Conference of States Parties to the Convention, held in Doha in November, to establish an effective implementation review mechanism.

April 28th, 2009 Vice mayor of China resort city dismissedBEIJING — A vice mayor of eastern China's resort city of Hangzhou was fired Tuesday for an unspecified violation of discipline, the official Xinhua news Agency reported. Xu Maiyong was dismissed from his posts and remains under investigation by the Communist Party's discipline and inspection committee, Xinhua said, a likely sign his case will eventually be referred to top law enforcement bodies.

April 22nd, 2009 China upholds death for man who took $8.8 millionBEIJING — A Beijing court upheld the death sentence of a former securities firm manager found guilty of embezzling 60 million yuan ($8.8 million), his defense lawyer and state media said Wednesday. Yang Yanmin was convicted of stealing the identities of his staff at China Galaxy Securities Company to borrow money and open stock accounts, state media said.

March 26th, 2009 BEIJING - Professor Lin Zhe, an anti-corruption expert at the Central School of the Communist Party of China has said that the online community is becoming a major force in curbing corruption in China. The China Daily quoted Zhe as saying that corrupt officials should be wary of the eyes behind the Internet.

March 2nd, 2009 PATNA - The Bihar government is likely to introduce an anti-corruption bill in the state assembly within the next two days, after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's admission that corruption has been a big hurdle in state's development, a minister said here Monday. Minister for Law, Public Information and Public Relations Ramnath Thakur said the bill would be introduced in the state assembly either Tuesday or Wednesday.

February 5th, 2009 BEIJING - The head of the China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation has been removed from his post and the party membership over allegations of accepting bribes, the country's insurer watchdog has said. The decision was taken Dec 2, 2008, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) said Thursday.

February 3rd, 2009 BEIJING - China has sacked a top official of the state-run China Development Bank on corruption charges, officials said Wednesday. Wang Yi, vice president of the bank and a member of the Communist Party of China (CPC), was sacked for 'severe violation of disciplines and the law', the disciplinary commission of the CPC, said.

January 28th, 2009 GUWAHATI - Three senior bureaucrats have been arrested in Assam on corruption charges. Two of the arrests were made by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), officials said here Thursday.

January 10th, 2009 SHIMLA - The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has launched a service in Himachal Pradesh which will allow people to register their complaints of corruption through just an SMS, an official said Sunday. 'Our (the CBI) aim is to encourage the common man to come forward in providing details about the corrupt employees in government offices and public sector undertakings of the central government,' CBI Superintendent of Police R.

January 6th, 2009 PANCHKULA - Corruption in the government offices of Haryana is 'highly institutionalised and everyone here is shielding one another', a top anti-corruption official said Wednesday. 'The cases of corruption that we are dealing with in the state are just the tip of an iceberg.