Two local officials in east China's Shandong
Province have been arrested for allegedly taking bribes in
connection with land use, the Ministry of Land and Resources
disclosed on Monday in Beijing.
The two officials -- Wang Yan, assistant to the mayor of
Qingdao, Shandong Province, and Yu Zhijun, director of the
Education and Sports Bureau of Qingdao -- are accused by
prosecutors of taking bribes to endorse illegal land acquisitions
in the city's Laoshan District in 2001.
The two, then heads of Laoshan District and the district's land
authority, respectively, ordered the illegal transfer of 262
hectares of land from rural collectives. Authorities say 97
hectares of the land have so far been occupied.
The ministry kicked off an unprecedented nationwide probe into
rampant land abuse last July and spoke out yesterday about what
might happen to local officials implicated in the
investigation.
Five of the nine major land abuse cases the ministry publicly
disclosed at the end of last year have so far been investigated,
said Zhang Xinbao, director of the ministry's supervision
division.
The other three cases took place in Nanchang, capital of east
China's Jiangxi
Province; north China's Tianjin Municipality; and northwest
China's Shaanxi
Province. All the local officials held responsible have
received administrative punishments.
Chinese law states that the Ministry of Land and Resources must
approve acquisition of any piece of arable land larger than 70
hectares.
Zhang said the rest of the 165 hectares of land will either be
put aside for further disposal or be returned to farmers for
cultivation.
The developers of the projects already under construction on the
land can apply to the local land authority for necessary land-use
certificates. The Laoshan District government will provide
compensation for any losses to the state and to rural collectives
from land transfers.
Local officials responsible for illegal construction of a
79-hectare golf course in Qihe County, Shandong, have been given
administrative demotions and stern intra-Party disciplinary
warnings.
Zhang admitted the illegal construction of the golf links
destroyed 32.5 hectares of highly productive arable land that was
not supposed to be transferred to other uses.
But the construction was approved by the leadership of the
county as a whole, instead of any individual official.
Handing out administrative punishments to leading county
officials was deemed the most suitable course of action in the
case, Zhang said.
Zhang hopes severe punishment will forestall other land abuses
by local officials.
He said no one involved in such cases can expect to get away
with the crimes without completing several pages of self-criticism,
he said.
Local officials who do not enforce current land management laws
and regulations are leading to the country's continuous loss of
arable land, according to Zhang.
Last year alone, China lost 2.5 million hectares of arable land,
50 percent more than in the previous year.
(China Daily March 16, 2004)