Outsourcing of public power defies rule of law

The urban management bureau in Malong county in Southwest China's Yunnan province has reportedly "outsourced" its traffic enforcement to a private company, whose staff have clashed with local drivers many times. The company, whose legal representative was an urban management official's wife, was founded in 2013 to "reduce the increasing violations of parking rules" in the county. The local publicity department on Sunday said the bureau has no economic links with the company and the aforementioned official has been dismissed. Comments:

The possible illegal profit sharing between the local government and the private company, to which it now seems to have no administrative connections, indicates that officials may have engaged in rent-seeking or the outsourcing of enforcement power for personal gain.

Southern Metropolis Daily, June 15