BEIJING: Efforts to uproot corruption in the grain industry should be continuously strengthened so as to better serve and safeguard the country’s food safety, China’s top anti-graft agency said.
Taking food safety as a must for the economy and livelihoods, the Central Commission of Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China and the National Commission of Supervision recently issued a guideline, calling for heavier punishments for corrupt officials in this regard.
“A zero-tolerance attitude and high pressure on grain-related corruption must be maintained,” the commissions said in a statement on Monday, clarifying that they will focus on disorder in grain purchases, reserves and sales.
They pledged to strictly combat behaviors of replacing new grain with the old as well as other malpractices, formalism and bureaucracy in the food field, adding that regular supervision and accountability also need to be intensified. Earlier, the commissions revealed 10 influential cases in which former officials violated disciplines and laws while serving in grain-related work positions. In one case, for example, Xu Baoyi, former deputy general manager of the China Grain Reserves Group, or Sinograin, was charged with accepting bribes of more than 13 million yuan ($1.91 million), dereliction of duty and insider trading by prosecutors in Shanxi province in October.
–The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
