China: Former Environmental Deputy Charged With Graft

A former top environmental official in severely polluted northern China has been charged with taking bribes, amid a rise in the number of senior environment authorities accused of graft.



The state-run China Daily reported Saturday that Li Bao, previously deputy chief of Hebei province's environmental watchdog, is among 10 other officials charged with taking bribes.



It cited the Procuratorial Daily as reporting that Li had assisted an environmental technology company in bidding to construct more than 195 air quality monitoring stations in the heavily polluted region that borders capital Beijing and Tianjin municipality.



By allegedly using his power to acquire benefits from "illegal trades" since 2009, he received around 14 million yuan ($2.3 million) in property as well as $60,000 in cash, according to the dailies.



Meanwhile, six of the 10 other accused officials served in top positions in the provincial environmental protection department and its branches.



The increase in charges against environmental officials comes after revisions in Chinese regulations aimed at tackling the pollution problem that granted greater powers to environmental protection authorities, who issue environmental impact assessments to firms.



Ma Yong, researcher at a Supreme People's Court law center, told the China Daily on Friday, "the public has seen the frequent exposure of corrupt officials in the environment system recently, demonstrating the high risk of corruption in this field."



Zhou Ying, anti-graft chief at the environmental protection ministry, also told the Daily that the number of investigated officials had risen from 646 in 2012 to 1,684 in 2014, with more than 20 percent being charged with graft.



China is the world's largest polluter, producing a quarter of the world's carbon dioxide emissions.



The government says that around 70 percent of Chinese lakes and rivers are polluted.



The country faces international pressure to clean up its environment while residents are increasingly complaining about pollution. - Pekin