http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26072311-25837,00.html
China steps up corruption fight Michael Sainsbury, China correspondent | September 15, 2009 Article from: The Australian THE fight against widespread official corruption will take centre stage when China's ruling Communist Party begins its fourth major meeting in Beijing today since Hu Jintao was confirmed as leader for his second five-year term in 2007. The meeting is expected to ratify tough new rules on officials declaring their assets after a raft of senior officials have been arrested on corruption charges this year. Corruption has been at the centre of two fatal episodes that have rocked China in the past two years. More than 10,000 students were killed when shoddily built schools collapsed in the Sichuan earthquake last year. Local officials had pocketed much of the money sent by the central government to fund the building of the schools, forcing authorities to use weaker materials. Corruption was also behind the Sanlu powdered milk scandal, in which the chemical melamine was used to bolster the product. It produced kidney stones that killed six infants and made thousands of others ill. A senior Chinese police official is being probed for alleged criminal links in the southwestern city of Chongqing, according to media reports. Highway police chief Chen Honggang is being investigated in a clean-up operation that began in June. The Beijing News said Mr Chen had tried to commit suicide. Several senior officials in the city of five million people have been netted in the clean-up drive over links to criminal gangs or for trying to protect the local mafia in return for money. "The fight against the mafia has entered its most difficult phase, and we have to fight organised crime at the political and economic levels to achieve success," municipal official Liu Guanglei said. Any dedicated anti-corruption drive could be thwarted by China's weak legal system, in which local and provincial party officials effectively control the courts as well as the government. Additional reporting: AFP
