After a two-month ultimatum issued by the central government ended on 20 October, 4,578 officials have reported personal investment in coal mines totalling 653 million yuan (US$80.5 million).
Of the 653 million yuan, the officials who reported their investments in coal mines have withdrawn 473 million yuan (US$56 million). Those who have withdrawn shares from coal mines include 3,002 civil servants and 1,576 heads of state-owned enterprises, the government said. As they have reported their shares, they would be exempted from any punishment. But criminal or disciplinary penalties would be meted out to those officials who invested in coal mines using money taken from bribes or other illegal channels, according to Chen Changzhi, Vice-minister of Supervision.
Government officials in China are forbidden by law to acquire shares of non-listed companies. But some corrupt officials ignored the restrictions and raked in huge amounts of money through direct investment or share options in some private coal mines.
The four departments involved in investigating officials’ personal investments in coal mines are the Ministry of Supervision, the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration of the State Council, and the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS).
Revealing the figures on 2 November, Li Yizhong, director of the State Administration of Work Safety, said some officials who were lured by huge profits had abused their power to collude with owners of illegally-run collieries that lacked basic protection of miners’ safety.
They have abused their power, accepted bribes and helped cover up fatal coal mine accidents, said Li, citing the example of Hu Jianchang, vice-director of the provincial bureau of work safety in South China's Guangdong Province, who took 100,000 yuan (US$12,000) in bribes to issue a safety certificate to Daxing Coal Mine on June 5. A flooding incident occurred on 7 August, killing 121 miners.
"Those who have transferred their colliery shares to other people or are holding shares secretly will be removed from their posts outright and be held liable for administrative or criminal punishment," Chen said, adding that a joint inspection group will soon be set up to check the implementation of the drive.
Government statistics show that more than 6,000 miners are killed in coal mine accident each year, but a mainland official told CLB in early 2004 that the number of deaths in coal mines accident is as high as 20,000 each year.
SAWS's data indicates that China has more than 27,000 coal mines, of which 24,000 are medium- or small-sized ones. SAWS has suspended the production of more than 8,600 collieries, mainly small ones that could not meet the requirement of safety standards, aiming to reduce the number of coal mine accidents.
Sources: China Daily (2 November 2005), Xinhua News Agency (2 November 2005)
Of the 653 million yuan, the officials who reported their investments in coal mines have withdrawn 473 million yuan (US$56 million). Those who have withdrawn shares from coal mines include 3,002 civil servants and 1,576 heads of state-owned enterprises, the government said. As they have reported their shares, they would be exempted from any punishment. But criminal or disciplinary penalties would be meted out to those officials who invested in coal mines using money taken from bribes or other illegal channels, according to Chen Changzhi, Vice-minister of Supervision.
Government officials in China are forbidden by law to acquire shares of non-listed companies. But some corrupt officials ignored the restrictions and raked in huge amounts of money through direct investment or share options in some private coal mines.
The four departments involved in investigating officials’ personal investments in coal mines are the Ministry of Supervision, the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration of the State Council, and the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS).
Revealing the figures on 2 November, Li Yizhong, director of the State Administration of Work Safety, said some officials who were lured by huge profits had abused their power to collude with owners of illegally-run collieries that lacked basic protection of miners’ safety.
They have abused their power, accepted bribes and helped cover up fatal coal mine accidents, said Li, citing the example of Hu Jianchang, vice-director of the provincial bureau of work safety in South China's Guangdong Province, who took 100,000 yuan (US$12,000) in bribes to issue a safety certificate to Daxing Coal Mine on June 5. A flooding incident occurred on 7 August, killing 121 miners.
"Those who have transferred their colliery shares to other people or are holding shares secretly will be removed from their posts outright and be held liable for administrative or criminal punishment," Chen said, adding that a joint inspection group will soon be set up to check the implementation of the drive.
Government statistics show that more than 6,000 miners are killed in coal mine accident each year, but a mainland official told CLB in early 2004 that the number of deaths in coal mines accident is as high as 20,000 each year.
SAWS's data indicates that China has more than 27,000 coal mines, of which 24,000 are medium- or small-sized ones. SAWS has suspended the production of more than 8,600 collieries, mainly small ones that could not meet the requirement of safety standards, aiming to reduce the number of coal mine accidents.
Sources: China Daily (2 November 2005), Xinhua News Agency (2 November 2005)
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