Officials may pay for false reports

Communities can be removed from list of poor after third-party evaluation of income

Officials who make false reports about anti-poverty achievements will be punished and prosecuted if the fraud is severe, a senior official said on Tuesday.

"Some villages where more than 10 percent of the people still live in poverty have applied to be removed from the list of poor villages," said Liu Yongfu, director of the State Council Leading Group of Poverty Alleviation and Development.