BT : Beijing takes hard line on graft in property sector

Business Times - 19 May 2010

Beijing takes hard line on graft in property sector

(BEIJING) China's ruling communists are cracking down on official corruption in the real estate market, warning of stiff penalties for anyone caught trying to cash in on the property boom, state media said.

The government is trying to rein in soaring real estate prices and damp down social unrest over land grabs and forced evictions seen by the public as the result of collusion between unscrupulous officials and property developers.

The Communist Party's central disciplinary committee has defined 39 punishable offences for officials at government agencies and state-owned companies, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Officials will face punishment if they are found to have engaged in graft related to bidding on construction projects, the transfer of land and mining rights, real estate development and city planning, it said, without detailing the penalties.

'Party officials' interfering in construction projects . . . has severely impaired public interests, affected relations between the party and the people . . . and undermined social harmony,' Xinhua said in a special commentary.

The agency said that such behaviour had triggered a 'strong public backlash', adding that the party planned to 'firmly address and rectify' the problem.

Last month, a party official in the central province of Henan ordered that a protester be run over with a dump truck during a land dispute, killing him, in the latest case of violent confrontations triggered by land seizures.

The country's top leaders have repeatedly said that rampant official corruption has threatened the party's ability to rule. -- AFP

Copyright © 2010 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. All rights reserved.