Punishment 'severe' for harming anti-poverty efforts

China's top poverty relief agency has pledged "severe punishment" for those who embezzle poverty relief funds or fail to implement anti-poverty programs, said an official from the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development on Friday.

Liu Yongfu, director of the office, said that the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the top graft watchdog, has decided to launch a three-year special campaign between 2018 and 2020 to target corruption and bad working style in the poverty relief sector.

"Strict evaluations will be carried out and those who have failed to implement poverty relief programs or cheated in the job will be punished without leniency, especially those who embezzle poverty relief funds," he told a news conference organized by the State Council Information Office.