The head of China's electricity watchdog has lashed out at what he deemed the "local protectionism" that inspectors uncovered over an 18-month investigation into the commercial corruption polluting the state power sector.

State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) chairman You Quan said the campaign marked a "substantial initial achievement," with 121 commercial corruption cases found between August 2005 and March 2007, resulting in 178 people being brought to task and a total of 44.07 million yuan in illicit funds uncovered.

However, he told a meeting of the commercial corruption control group, "The mind-set of local protectionism and protecting departmental interests must be corrected."

A nationwide campaign among 5,846 electricity enterprises recovered 17.14 million yuan in cash gifts or negotiable securities from both firms and individuals. This positive news is still only a first step for You who has called for a long-term anti-corruption mechanism to be established as soon as possible.?

He said that future investigations will oversee electricity engineering, equipment and materials procurement, property rights transactions, power supply services and electricity bill payments. Furthermore, a blacklist will be created to name and shame those involved in corrupt practices.

You also encouraged members of the public to pass on information exposing malpractice to inspectors and that such actions would be recompensed.

Since 2005, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the central government have been involved in a nationwide drive to purge commercial corruption from governmental departments.

The State Administration for Industry and Commerce preceded the SERC's findings with a report in April shining light onto 9,086 commercial corruption cases in 2006, involving a total 1.93 billion yuan.

From August 2005 to the end of 2006, the government dealt with 17,084 commercial corruption cases totaling more than 4.5 billion yuan (US$577 million) in ill-begotten gains. However, under the national drive, over 2.6 million enterprises and government departments have conducted self-regulation drives, recovering 417 million yuan (US$53.46 million) in illegal earnings in 2006.

(Xinhua News Agency June 7, 2007)