Chinacloses 'bribe-deposit accounts' in anti-graft drive

China has shut the special accounts created for officials to anonymously deposit bribe payments in the economic powerhouse Guangdong province as part of its anti-graft drive under which thousands of officials have been punished.
The provincial discipline inspection committee, in a regulation released recently, asked officials to be "clean, and turn down any bribes, be they gifts or gift cards."
"The accounts send the wrong message - some officials and cadres may think that it is OK to accept gift cards or 'Hongbao' [the red envelope,]" an official with the committee said.
"From now on, all these accounts will be closed and any bribe payments must be returned to the bribers," he said.

Several other provinces including Guizhou, Sichuan, Gansu and Inner-Mongolia Autonomous Region have also dropped the accounts, following the release of strict rules on the conduct of the Communist Party of China members after President Xi Jinping launched a massive anti-graft drive all over the country in 2013 in which thousands of officials were punished.
Starting from January this year, a revised regulation issued by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee banned officials from accepting gifts, money or gift cards.
According to the regulation, if accepting the bribe is unavoidable, the money must be handed over to the discipline inspection authority along with the real names of those involved, when the bribe is given and the location among other details, state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.

Those who fail to hand in the bribes in a timely fashion will be punished accordingly, it said.