Guizhou using big data in graft crackdown

THANKS to big data, the discipline inspection and supervision authority of Longan County in southwest China’s Guizhou Province discovered that a public vehicle had been running between two towns for 23 consecutive days.

An investigation showed that the chief of Dushan Town’s committee of Communist Party of China, surnamed Chen, used the vehicle for private purposes. Chen received a warning from the Party and returned the 6,900 yuan (US$1,012) in fuel costs.

In recent years, Guizhou has built several big data systems that oversee the use of public funds, work on poverty alleviation and public wellbeing, and Party building, in an effort to combat corruption.

Armed with big data technology, discipline inspectors of Guizhou can find clues of graft practices easier and earlier.

In February, officials of the discipline inspection and supervision authority of Longli County found via the big data system that the health bureau had spent more than 150,000 yuan of public funds on office supplies and issued an alert.

Later investigation showed that Luo Xianqin, then head of the bureau, used part of the funds to purchase drinks, for which Luo was given a warning by the Party.

“Earlier, before the big data system, we had to find clues of misuse of public funds on our own and many of the clues were missed,” said Yan Wanping, head of the provincial department of finance.

“The system makes our jobs clearer and easier,” Yan said, adding that the system sent 684 alerts of possible misuse of public funds in the first half of the year, involving nearly 14 million yuan.

To discover graft problems more directly, the government has made information of funds related to people’s lives accessible to the public across the province.

Residents of Qianxinan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture now can see the information via the Internet or through the more than 1,100 big data terminals that are located on the doorstep of all hospitals, residents’ service centers and village committees.

They can use the terminals to look up the preferential policies they enjoy and the amount of subsidies they receive with a swipe of their ID card.

Earlier this year, a villager surnamed Xiong of Songba village, Liuzhi Special District, checked his pension insurance on a terminal and found that his mother, who had died two years earlier, was still “receiving” pension insurance.

Xiong reported the issue to the district discipline inspection and supervision authority. After checking the system, the authority found Li Zhuo, a former staff member for social security of the village, had fraudulently claimed the pension insurance. Li received a warning.

“A total of 550 million items of data related to funds for public wellbeing have been collected by the system in the first half of the year,” said Shen Chuan, an official of the provincial discipline inspection and supervision.

“Among the 550 million items of data, more than 275,000 were found problematic, which led to 6,934 violations. To date, we have filed 186 cases and retrieved 6.15 million yuan in cash,” Shen said.