China defends corruption claims

Corruption has been a focus of the National People's Congress

(CNN) -- China's top graft-buster has maintained that corruption is under control despite the well-publicized scandals involving banks and customs authorities.

Wei Jianxing, head of the Communist Party's Central Commission for Disciplinary Inspection said at the National People's Congress (NPC) that it was not a case of "the more one fights corruption, the worse it gets."

"There is no foundation to say that corruption is deteriorating," Wei said while meeting NPC deputies from northeastern Heilongjiang Province.

State media on Saturday quoted Wei as saying that serious graft cases were most numerous from 1993 to 1997 -- and they had declined since.

Wei, a member of the party's Politburo Standing Committee, said since the late 1990s, the number of letters and petitions from the population related to graft cases had also dropped.

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Cao Keming, head of the Commission for Disciplinary Inspection of Jiangsu Province, also pointed out that instances of corruption had declined since 1997.

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However, he said on the fringes of the NPC meeting that fighting graft was a "long-term battle" that required better education standards and more supervision by anti-graft and judicial authorities.

Fighting economic crimes such as corruption will be a major theme of a report to be presented to the NPC on Monday by the President of the Supreme People's Court, Xiao Yang.

According to deputies who have read a draft of Xiao's report, the chief judicial cadre will point out that disciplinary and police officials must heighten their guard against corruption after China's accession to the World Trade Organization.

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Xiao will report that more than 40,000 people were penalized by the courts last year for economics-related crimes, including corruption.

The courts were also able to recover 56 billion yuan worth of ill-gotten gains in 2001.

Prominent corruption cases that hit the headlines in the past year included senior officials in the Bank of China as well as the leaders of the provinces of Yunnan and Liaoning.

NPC sources said senior legislators were considering new laws to curb corruption through the tightening up of accounting and auditing practices.