anti-graft Photo: VCG

China's top anti-corruption investigators have started their first round of on-site probes that cover five financial institutions, as the Chinese central government has vowed to strengthen the prevention and control of financial risks, the China Media Group reported on Sunday.

Finance is the "lifeblood" of the national economy and an important core competitiveness of the country, Yang Zhengchao, leader of the fifth inspection team under the 20th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee's first round of inspection, said at a mobilization meeting.

Conducting a "looking back" inspection of certain financial institutions is an important measure to promote the high-quality development of the financial sector and a move to comprehensively promote strict Party governance in the sector, Yang said.

The inspection will focus on "heads" and leading bodies of the institutions, as well as their powers and responsibilities, and thoroughly examine the institutions' implementation of the requirements from the previous round of inspections, Yang noted.

It aims to resolve prominent problems in the financial sector by strengthening the unified leadership over the Party's work in the financial sector, enhancing prevention and control of financial risks, and other issues, he stressed.

Among the 15 anti-corruption inspection teams, the fifth team has started probes of China Development Bank, the Agricultural Development Bank of China and the People's Insurance Co Group of China. 

The sixth team has kicked off inspections of China Everbright Group and China Investment Corp.

Li Xiaopeng, former Party chief and chairman of China Everbright Group, had been placed under investigation for suspected severe violations of Party discipline and laws, according to an official statement released on Wednesday.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, China has made continuous efforts to fight corruption with growing resolve. The Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in January highlighted anti-corruption work in key sectors with high concentrations of power, funds and resources, such as finance, state-owned enterprises, and others, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

On March 27, a list of targets of this new round of inspection was announced, including the Party groups of 30 state-owned enterprises administrated by central authorities and the Party committees of five centrally administrated state-owned financial institutions, according to Xinhua.

Global Times