From Chinese Press

A test for civil service law

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-05-26 08:14

Judge Zhang Jifeng of Shenmu county, Shanxi province, who won a commercial trial to get 11 million yuan, must be punished because the country's law bans government officials' from engaging in business, says an article in the Beijing News. Excerpts:

Zhang Jifeng sued a coal mine in Shanxi for not paying him dividend for two years and won the case on the basis of the Contract Law. In the process, he was exposed as a shareholder in a private company, which is against the Civil Servant Law.

Zhang's case is not uncommon. It's actually an open secret that many corrupt officials abuse their power to make money. Such officials will not even blink an eyelid before abusing their power to make personal gains.

If Zhang is not punished, other officials may be encouraged to take advantage of their posts for personal gains. We should keep an eye on the case to see whether Zhang's commercially legal but administratively illegal earnings are seized and he is punished.

Merely firing him from his job would be trivial compared to the huge profit he has made. The case is a test of the Civil Servant Law.

(China Daily 05/26/2010 page9)