China's top discipline watchdog Wednesday called for more real-name whistle-blowing on disciplinary violations by Party members and officials and promised to prioritize such tip-offs and respond in a timely manner.
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) under the Communist Party of China (CPC) Wednesday for the first time televised live a review of its investigations in the past year, which was regarded by observers as an attempt to diversify the ways it discloses information.
According to figures from the CCDI, more than 160,000 people were punished for disciplinary violations in 2012. The investigations led to the recovery of 7.83 billion yuan ($1.24 billion) in direct economic losses resulting from the violations.
Cui Shaopeng, spokesperson of the CCDI, said the watchdog severely dealt with disciplinary and legal violations by officials, punishing a total of 4,698 county-level cadres or higher-level cadres and transferring 961 to judicial organs.
Among them, high profile cases such as former Chongqing Party chief Bo Xilai and Liu Zhijun, former minister of railways, have been transferred to the courts, said Cui.
According to the CCDI, disciplinary inspectors launched investigations into more than 155,000 cases last year, of which 41.8 percent were based on petitions by the public.
Cui said the CCDI is trying to expand their sources, and that it is paying special attention to disciplinary violations exposed by media and the Internet, citing the case of Yang Dacai, an official who came under investigation after an online "human flesh searches" found he owned many luxury watches.
The official also advocated real-name reporting, vowing to deal with such tip-offs as a priority and give a timely response.
However, the public is skeptical toward real-name reports, with many of them concerned about the lack of protections for whistle-blowers.
Zhang Shiye, a 62-year-old resident of Rizhao, Shandong Province, last year tipped off authorities about Chen Wenxiang, a city official, for his illegal construction of luxury buildings and apartments.
Zhang told the Global Times that he received a reply from the local government in September, but was threatened by Chen, who used his personal influence to get Zhang's personal information after being investigated.
"He sent me text messages threatening me and my children," Zhang said, adding that he hasn't gotten any reply from the government since he reported the threats to the local police.
Zhang's is by no means a singular case.
"Real-name reports are quite dangerous for whistle-blowers, but are quite effective because they can lead investigative groups directly to the tip provider and let them process the case as soon as possible. We must make efforts to protect those whistle-blowers from being harmed," Lin Zhe, an anti-corruption expert with the Party School of the Central Committee of the CPC, said.
Local disciplinary watchdogs also came up with their own methods to facilitate the fight against corruption.
The discipline inspection department in Guangzhou Monday posted a message on its official Sina Weibo account, teaching Web users how to write a petition letter, so that their reports can be processed more effectively.
Lin said these were all positive gestures by discipline inspectors, but they still have a long way to go in the future and need to make public disclosure a routine way of fighting against corruption.
Xinhua contributed to this story