Corruption Scandals Hit Science Officials in Guangdong; Third provincial official comes under investigation since graft fighters started looking into how funds for research projects are used

03.18.2014 19:02
Corruption Scandals Hit Science Officials in Guangdong
Third provincial official comes under investigation since graft fighters started looking into how funds for research projects are used
By staff reporters Wang Jing and Ren Zhongyuan
(Beijing) – Another Guangdong official linked to the science and technology sector has run afoul of corruption fighters, who are examining how funds for research projects are disbursed.

The anti-corruption watchdog in the southern province said on March 14 that Zhang Ming, Communist Party vice secretary of the province’s department of science and technology, was being investigated for “serious discipline violations.” No other details were provided, but the phrase usually means corruption.
The department’s website says Zhang handled financial and personnel matters.
Zhang is the third senior official at the science and technology department to come under investigation since summer last year. Zhang’s case is linked to an inquiry into Li Xinghua, former director of the department of science and technology, who was removed from his post and put under investigation in July, a source close to the situation said.
On February 14, Wang Kewei, deputy director of the province’s department of science and technology, was also probed in connection with Li’s case.
The scandals come as an increasing amount of money is invested in science and technology in China. Guan Xiaojing, an analyst at the National Bureau of Statistics, said Guangdong was among the six provinces that spent the most on research in 2012. Its spending exceeded 50 billion yuan that year.
Total investment in science and technology hit 1 trillion yuan in China in 2012. The figure represented about 1.98 percent of the country’s GDP. Some 560 billion yuan of that came from the central government’s budget.
The probes into Zhang and Li come as many other officials overseeing science and technology matters have come under investigation. Prosecutors in Guangzhou say 25 graft cases involving 29 people and 50 million yuan were handled last year.
An official in the city’s prosecutor’s office said the people involved in the inquiries included officials and employees at the provincial, city and district level of science and technology bureaus, and executive of listed and start-up technology companies. Misconduct was found in the granting of funds for research projects.
Foshan, another city in Guangdong, also reported a series of science-related corruption cases last year. These involved 21 officials and executives who were accused of abusing their power and committing fraud to get subsidies.
A source close to the situation said the investigation on Li is still expanding. “More and more people have been found involved in the case,” said the source.