Lawmaker calls for transparency of public servants’ finances, assets

A lawmaker has proposed that all public servants reveal their financial status to prevent corruption.

Linghu An, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature, made the proposal at the two sessions.

He said that the current Civil Servant Law should be amended to require all civil servants to reveal their families’ finances to the public, The Beijing News reported on Wednesday.

Linghu added that the law should set a clear procedure for civil servants to make their finances public. He explained that the assets that need to be transparent include movable assets, such as bank deposits, investments, and immovable assets, such as houses and vehicles.

The results should be verified by disciplinary, audit and human resources authorities after the publication, said Linghu. Making civil servants’ finances transparent is an effective way to prevent corruption, Linghu noted.

The government has yet to require all public servants to publicize their finances, while only senior government officials are required to report vital personal information to the organization, Zhuang Deshui, a deputy director of the Research Center for Government Integrity- Building at Peking University, told the Global Times.

However, Zhuang warned that asking all civil servants to report their finances is more feasible than being publicized, because “the information might be stolen for illegal purposes and may violate their right of privacy.”

The Communist Party of China’s disciplinary agency listed more than 34 officials at the ministerial level in 2015, about one- third of them related to the illegal involvement of their families’ commercial operations, Xinhua reported.