42 officials disciplined over data falsification in Ningxia

Forty-two officials, including four at bureau level, have been punished for involvement in the statistics fraud scandal in Lingwu city in Northwest China’s Ningxia Hui autonomous region, according to a statement of the National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday.

The scandal dated back to March last year, when some companies and government agencies in Lingwu were found to have inflated data to make their performances look better. They also resisted NBS inspections.

According to the NBS, the Party chief and mayor in Lingwu were each given serious warnings from within the Party. The directors of the city’s commission for development and reform and its bureau of statistics were stripped of their Party positions and government posts.

The NBS said the director of the city’s bureau of industry and information technology was placed on record for his “great faults” in governmental affairs and changed to a nonleadership position. Other officials in government departments, including the bureau of education and sports, housing and urban-rural construction bureau, health and family planning department and forestry bureau were all warned and punished for their malpractices.

According to the NBS, the severe punishments imposed were in accordance with the laws and regulations and considered a major measure to prevent and fight statistics fraud.

“Relevant sectors in other provinces and regions should all draw some lessons from the fraud scandal in Lingwu,” the NBS said.