Officials' property disclosure system should be more transparent to public

A RECENT ONLINE POST has claimed that Yang Jinsheng, Party chief of Tanba township in Wuchuan, South China's Guangdong province, owns properties, factories and hotels, which are estimated to be worth more than 268 million yuan ($43 million). Although Yang said he would resort to legal measures to respond to the accusations, a better property disclosure system for officials is what is most needed, says a column on scol.com.cn:

Yang claimed that the properties were given to him by his father. If this is true, then Yang is innocent of any wrongdoing as he has obtained the properties legally. If he is lying, a deeper investigation needs to be conducted to find out whether any corruption is involved. The local disciplinary agency has said that they are already involved and the truth will be revealed shortly.

However, the incident is just one of several cases in the past years, in which officials have aroused people's suspicions because of the property they own. Some have proved to be innocent of any corruption, while others have not.