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China: Data fraud officials will be sacked

By Xie Chuanjiao (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-29 07:11

Officials who falsify economic data could face the sack under a new law aimed at wiping out fraudulent figures.

The revised Law on Statistics bans staff at all levels from tampering with government data and was approved by China's top legislature on Saturday.

It will come into effect on Jan 1 next year.

Officials will also be stopped from asking workers and agencies to fake data, or take revenge on those who refuse to.

"Violators will be ordered to make rectification and imposed administrative punishments," the law now states.

According to the rules that govern civil servants in China, administrative punishments include warnings, fines and dismissal.

Ma Jiantang, director of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said the fabrication of statistics and falsely altered data accounted for about 60 percent of all violations.

Former NBS director Li Deshui said the cumulative gross domestic product data submitted by local governments for 2004 was 3.9 percentage points higher than the NBS data for that year - a difference of nearly 2.66 trillion yuan ($380 billion).

Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC), said the revision was focused on coping with data fraud and deception, including the prevention of administrative intervention in statistical work.

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"The law will make statistical data more reliable so it can play a better role in understanding national realities and capacity, and better serve economic and social development," he said.

The law also stipulates that agencies submitting data, including government departments, must keep the original records.

"Statistical staff in charge of examination and signatures must be responsible for data authenticity, accuracy and integrity," the law states.

While government officials face tough action, individuals who refuse to cooperate or give false or incomplete data during the national census will be counseled, replacing the previous punishment of a 1,000-yuan fine.

The NPC uncovered serious frauds during inspections into the implementation of the old statistics law, including in Chongqing municipality, where two officials asked workers to add a "0" to the production value of a local enterprise, which saw it jump to "30 million yuan" from the previous "3 million yuan", in order to achieve its annual economic development goal.

Analysts believe a blinkered view of economic growth, once the measure of an official's performance, was the major reason behind the faked figures.

Huang Yong, dean of the school of economic law at the University of International Business and Economics, said the revised law would boost the country's statistical work.

"Besides the deterrence from the legislative sector, we still need to deepen system reforms, especially improving the independence of statistical work and enhance statistical expertise and intensify supervision," he added.