China to crackdown on graft in poverty alleviation programmes

China has announced a five-year campaign to crackdown on graft in poverty relief work amid sharp rise of corruption in such programmes aimed at uplifting over 70 million people languishing below the poverty line.
Duty crimes are the most recent area to be scrutinised by anti-graft authorities as inconsistencies have been flagged in poverty relief budgets, official media reported today.
In the past three years, prosecutors have investigated 2,295 officials who managed poverty alleviation, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) said.
The number of officials implicated in abuse of finances for poverty relief in the past three years accounted for 1.4 per cent of the total duty crimes during the same period, the SPP said.

The sharp rise of corruption in poverty alleviation is due to a high number of poverty relief projects and funds involved as well as lax supervision, an unidentified official with the anti-corruption bureau under the SPP was quoted by the state-run Xinhua news agency as saying.
Investigations by the SPP show that officials at county, township and village level are most likely to be involved in duty crimes, spanning bribery, embezzlement, speculation, abuse of power and dereliction of duty.

Chinese officials say more than 600millionpeople have been lifted out ofpoverty, accounting for about 70 per cent of those brought out ofpovertyworldwide.

Despite this, China still had 70.17millionpeople in the countryside living below the country'spovertyline of 2,300 yuan (USD 376) in annual income at the end of last year, according to the figures released last year by theState Council Leading Group Office ofPovertyAlleviation and Development of China.
Most of the poor lived in remote areas and the government has announced plans to lift them above poverty line by 2020.
SPP said prosecutors will improve the investigation of misuse of funds for relocation, ecological protection, education and medical insurance and rural living allowances.
Officials who are in charge of traffic management, hydropower and electric power infrastructure and renovation in rural areas will also be targeted in the anti-graft campaign.

Moreover, an information sharing system will be set up to ensure all poverty alleviation funds are used effectively and transparently, the SPP said, adding that officials will receive training to increase their legal awareness.
The prevention of duty crimes in poverty relief is a vital measure to poverty alleviation efforts as well as a major responsibility of prosecutors, SPP said.