A senior official from the State Bureau for Letters and Calls (SBLC) is under investigation for corruption following annnounced plans to reform the petitions system.
Xu Jie, deputy chief of the SBLC, has been placed under investigation for serious law and discipline violations, the Communist Party's Central Commission for Discipline announced on Wednesday. According to Xinhua, the 58 year old held various posts handling petitions from the public. No further details were given.
China's petitioning system has been highly criticised in the past for failing to deal with citizens' grievances and instead acting as a shield for corrupt officials' behaviour. Recent plans to abandon the policy which links performance of local government officials to the number of petitioners they handle were warmly welcomed. There have also been calls for greater discipline and transparency within the SBLC itself.
"Local officials should not be able to bribe the bureau's officials and ask for a case to be withdrawn in return," activist Yu Jianrong wrote on Weibo in response to Xu's arrest.
[Image: State Bureau of Letters and Calls, Beijing. Via: Baidu]
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