Unwanted public sculptures, fake invoices targeted

BEIJING: A number of ministry-level departments, including those responsible for urban-rural development, taxation, agriculture and medical products, have responded recently to matters of public concern.

The blind construction of large, unrealistic sculptures that fail to meet public demand will be strictly forbidden in Chinese cities, the housing and urban-rural development ministry said on Friday.

A notice issued by the ministry said the construction of sculptures with a height of over 30m or a width of over 45m will be strictly controlled and the building of such sculptures without adequate direction in the name of developing tourism or enhancing the image of cities will be forbidden.

Some sculptures have attracted public criticism for being excessively large, of low quality or being inconsistent with the surrounding environment.

But the notice also noted that a number of outstanding urban sculptures have helped create a good public environment and enhanced local culture.

Several ministries have also cracked down on crimes related to the use of fake invoices and exporttax rebate fraud in a special campaign, the state taxation Administration said on Friday.

The campaign was jointly launched by the tax administration, the public security ministry, the People’s Bank of China and customs general admissions in August 2018.

During the campaign, taxation departments probed 275,000 enterprises accused of producing fake invoices worth 252.4 billion yuan (RM155.2bil) and recovered 69.3 billion yuan (RM42.6bil) in lost tax revenue, the tax administration said.