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In the recent notices on party discipline and administrative sanctions issued by various places, Zhang Xu, former member of the Party Committee and vice chairman of CITIC Investment Holding Co., Ltd., Liu Zhangjun, former director of the Illegal Fund Raising Office of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, and many others were accused of "illegally taking part-time jobs for pay."

In recent years, some party members and public officials have been earning extra money from enterprises through part-time jobs while receiving state salaries. This not only breeds corruption, but also may lead to unequal competition among economic organizations and disrupt economic order. What are the typical manifestations of illegal part-time jobs? What are the provisions in discipline and law? How do discipline inspection and supervision agencies correct such problems? The reporter conducted an interview.

The Discipline Inspection and Supervision Commission of Mengjin District, Luoyang City, Henan Province, and the taxation department have used "smart taxation" and big data comparison to screen for clues on whether party members and cadres have illegally received remuneration for part-time jobs or received remuneration for hanging up their certificates. This picture shows that recently, the district's discipline inspection and supervision cadres went to the district taxation bureau to learn about the relevant situation. Photo by Lv Xiaopeng

The Discipline Inspection and Supervision Commission of Shilin Yi Autonomous County, Yunnan Province, has worked in coordination with the taxation, industry and commerce, human resources and social security departments to continuously rectify the problem of illegal part-time jobs. The picture shows the county's discipline inspection and supervision cadres analyzing and comparing data on wages, pension and social security, industry and commerce, and civil affairs registration information provided by functional departments. Photo by Li Qingyu

Illegal part-time jobs are covered in "invisibility cloaks" and are becoming more covert

The reporter found that illegal part-time jobs mainly include part-time jobs while working and part-time jobs after retirement. Some illegal part-time jobs are disguised as "invisible jobs", such as using fake certificates to get paid and working under an anonymous name.

Part-time work refers to taking part-time jobs in economic entities, social groups and other units in violation of regulations in addition to one's main job, or taking part-time jobs with approval but illegally taking remuneration. From July to September 2020, Shen, a member of the Party Leadership Group of the Leling Municipal Federation of Trade Unions of Shandong Province, was assigned to a certain enterprise for assistance according to the organization's arrangement. During the period of assignment, Shen received normal salary from his original unit, and at the same time borrowed his cousin's bank card to receive salary from the company where he was assigned. In December 2023, Shen was given an intra-party warning.

"Hanging certificates for compensation" refers to treating professional titles and vocational certificates as "money bags" for increasing income. Taking the field of engineering construction as an example, those who hang certificates can get a considerable amount of registration fees by registering relevant vocational certificates with enterprises; and some enterprises, in order to maintain their grades and upgrades, participate in bidding, and reduce expenses, have crooked ideas to let people with relevant vocational certificates register with them.

"Illegal registration of certificates not only brings great hidden dangers to related projects and disrupts project construction and bidding, but also seriously damages public credibility and easily breeds corruption such as profit transfer," said a relevant person in charge of the Yibin Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Sichuan Province.

Party members and cadres who take up part-time jobs in violation of regulations after retirement (leave) are using their own influence and personal connections to illegally hold positions and make profits. From August 2016 to November 2021, after retiring, Hu Moumou, a former deputy researcher of the Land Resources and Planning Bureau of Huadu District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, took a part-time job in a holding engineering management company under the name of a Guangzhou group company in the area and business scope under the jurisdiction of his original position without approval, serving as an investment development consultant for the Huadu area, assisting in real estate development and urban renewal related work, and illegally received remuneration from the group company totaling more than RMB 4 million. Upon investigation, Hu Moumou also had other serious violations of discipline and law. In September 2022, Hu Moumou was expelled from the party and his retirement benefits were canceled in accordance with regulations. In 2023, after a public trial, Hu Moumou was convicted of bribery and sentenced to three years in prison and a fine of 300,000 yuan.

Retired cadres illegally taking on part-time jobs in enterprises can easily hide the problem of "option corruption". Xiang Jianjun, a member of the Kaihua County Supervisory Committee of Zhejiang Province, told reporters that in order to avoid the risk of investigation and punishment, some enterprises promised relevant personnel to use their power to complete the requested matters, and then after leaving or retiring, they would take part-time jobs in the enterprise as consultants, experts, etc. and provide high remuneration. In essence, this is a power-for-money transaction with a "time difference".

"The similarities between retired cadres' illegal part-time jobs and 'option corruption' are that both involve illegal gains after retirement. The difference is that the latter is related to behavior before retirement. There is a situation where they seek improper benefits for others while in office and 'cash in' the benefits after retirement, and they are suspected of bribery." said a relevant responsible person from the Guangzhou Huadu District Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision.

After a party member or cadre retires, his or her original power or status will still have an impact within a certain scope and period, so there are clear restrictions on employment. Articles 105 and 106 of the "Regulations on Disciplinary Actions of the Communist Party of China" stipulate penalties for illegal employment and illegal profit-seeking after leaving the post. The "Opinions on Further Regulating the Part-time Work (Job) of Party and Government Leading Cadres in Enterprises" issued by the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in October 2013 pointed out that party and government leading cadres who resigned from public office or retired (left) and took part-time jobs (jobs) in enterprises should be strictly approved in accordance with the cadre management authority.

In recent years, some illegal part-time jobs have been covered in "invisible cloaks" and have become more covert. Some have created various pretexts to receive remuneration in the name of various subsidies or consulting fees; some party members and cadres do not show up themselves, but obtain part-time remuneration through their spouses, relatives or other specific people; some, in order to avoid supervision, use intermediary agencies to register their certificates across provinces for remuneration. In March 2023, Xu, the head of the Municipal Engineering Section of the Municipal Garden and Public Utilities Development Center in Fuyang District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, registered his first-class construction engineer certificate with a Shandong construction company through an intermediary company in Shandong, and completed the registration online, specifying that the part-time remuneration was 8,000 yuan per year. In June 2024, Xu was given an intra-party warning.

Some party members and cadres illegally take part-time jobs for pay, which in essence becomes a "ladder" for rent-seeking or power monetization.

When Party members and cadres violate regulations and take on part-time jobs, their time and energy will be affected in fulfilling their main duties, and they may even be asked to serve and pave the way for their main duties as part-time workers. Huang, a staff member of the Civil Affairs Bureau of Emeishan City, Sichuan Province, worked as a consultant for a private enterprise in Chengdu. In addition to taking advantage of weekends and holidays, he also used working time many times to inspect projects, receive government inspections, and attend company meetings in the name of the company's consultant.

Some party members and cadres illegally take part-time jobs for remuneration, which in essence becomes a "ladder" for rent-seeking or power monetization. Wang Jianxiong, deputy director of the Fourth Discipline Inspection and Supervision Office of the Yuhang District Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Hangzhou, told reporters that the units and positions where party members and cadres illegally take part-time jobs for remuneration are often closely related to their main jobs, which makes them likely to use their power or work convenience to turn public interests into private interests, harm the public and enrich themselves, and give rise to corruption problems such as power-for-money transactions and interest transfers.

"There is a high probability that corruption is hidden behind illegal part-time job remuneration. Generally, it is necessary to investigate and understand the part-time job content, remuneration agreement and other cooperation models, and compare and analyze them with the remuneration of part-time jobs of general market entities, so as to determine whether there is any power-for-money transaction behind it." Xiang Jianjun said.

The Party Central Committee has repeatedly prohibited cadres from taking part-time jobs or receiving remuneration for part-time jobs in economic and social organizations, and laws and regulations have also made strict provisions. Article 103 of the Regulations on Disciplinary Actions of the Communist Party of China clearly lists "taking part-time jobs in economic and social organizations in violation of relevant regulations, or taking part-time jobs with approval but receiving additional benefits such as remuneration, bonuses, and allowances" as violations of integrity discipline. Article 36 of the Administrative Disciplinary Action Law of the People's Republic of China also stipulates penalties for illegal part-time jobs.

"The "Several Provisions on Integrity in the Employment of State-owned Enterprise Leaders", the "Guiding Opinions on Supporting and Encouraging Innovation and Entrepreneurship of Professional and Technical Personnel in Public Institutions", and the "Opinions on Further Playing the Role of Retired Professional and Technical Personnel" have made detailed provisions on the subjects and behavioral manifestations of illegal part-time work and remuneration, and they should be strictly observed." said Cao Jingjing, director of the case review office of the Discipline Inspection and Supervision Commission of Rencheng District, Jining City, Shandong Province.

The problem of illegal part-time work and payment is due to both subjective reasons such as the ideological deviation of individual Party members and cadres and attempts to "take advantage of loopholes" and "play edge balls", as well as objective factors such as lack of supervision and mismanagement.

Some party members and cadres have a weak sense of integrity and discipline, and have not fully realized the seriousness of taking part-time jobs in violation of regulations. "Some think that they can evade organizational supervision by concealing the fact and returning the money openly and accepting it secretly; some think that they are not in important leadership positions and will not be subject to key supervision, so they have a fluke mentality," said Li Mei, head of the Discipline Inspection and Supervision Group of the Quanzhou Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Fujian Province stationed in the Municipal Party Committee's United Front Work Department.

Lax supervision and management, and weak implementation of the system, have left opportunities for illegal part-time jobs to be taken advantage of. Du Min, a staff member of the case review room of the Discipline Inspection and Supervision Commission of Fuyang District, Hangzhou, believes that some localities and departments have failed to strictly implement relevant laws, regulations and disciplinary provisions, and have not promptly stopped, reminded and educated people when signs of problems appeared, and even have a "good guy" mentality. In addition, the in-service status of some public officials is not disclosed to the society or employment system, and companies can still re-employ them; the recruitment information of companies is not fully disclosed, and illegal part-time jobs are difficult to detect in time.

"The relevant systems and regulations should be improved to clarify the scope, procedures, approval authority and supervisory responsibilities of part-time jobs, so as to prevent the occurrence of illegal part-time jobs and remuneration from the source. At the same time, we should strengthen the implementation of the system, deal with verified violations in accordance with discipline and law, and create a deterrent effect." said Guo Liping, deputy director of the third discipline inspection and supervision office of the Hangzhou Qiantang District Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision.

Strengthen supervision and discipline, and strictly investigate and deal with the problem of illegal part-time work and remuneration

In response to the issue of taking part-time jobs for pay in violation of regulations, discipline inspection and supervision agencies at all levels have stepped up supervision and discipline enforcement, and have strictly investigated and dealt with the problem.

Carry out special rectification, make up for shortcomings and plug loopholes in the rectification. The discipline inspection and supervision organs of Yibin City focused on the illegal behavior of public officials in the field of engineering bidding and tendering to carry out special rectification. The city corrected and rectified the illegal behavior of public officials in the field of engineering bidding and tendering, and confiscated the illegal income of public servants, public personnel and state-owned enterprise managers from the illegal hanging of certificates in accordance with regulations, discipline and law. The Discipline Inspection and Supervision Commission of Qiantang District, Hangzhou City carried out special rectification of illegal part-time remuneration, and formed a list of problems after comprehensively sorting out the problems found in the special rectification. By issuing supervision recommendations or rectification recommendations, interviewing and reminding the "top leaders", etc., the main responsibility of functional departments for supervision was strengthened, and the industry management system was urged to be improved and perfected, and the establishment of systems such as public officials' certificate registration, integrity commitment, self-inspection and spot checks, and education and punishment were promoted.

The problem of illegal part-time jobs and remuneration has shown invisible and mutated characteristics, and many places have used big data to enable precise supervision. The Discipline Inspection and Supervision Commission of Guangchang County, Jiangxi Province has established a big data supervision model around the problems of illegal hanging of certificates and remuneration, and has cooperated with relevant functional departments to promptly discover and investigate clues of illegal part-time jobs and remuneration through data collection, collision warning and other methods. The Discipline Inspection and Supervision Commission of Yangzhong City, Jiangsu Province has deeply integrated information technology with supervision and case handling, and carried out big data screening and comparison based on the "Clean Town" smart supervision system of Zhenjiang City. By using "the same taxpayer has different tax units at the same time" as the comparison rule, the personal income tax data of the city's financially supported personnel were internally compared and collided, and the data of the same taxpayer paying personal income tax in different units at the same time were extracted, and a number of illegal part-time jobs and remuneration cases were accurately investigated and handled.

Strengthen inter-departmental coordination and form a joint supervision force. The Discipline Inspection and Supervision Commission of Yiwu City, Zhejiang Province, together with the Municipal Party Committee Organization Department, Market Supervision and other departments, jointly created the "Cadre Supervision Information Intelligence Management Application", which included information such as business, wages, and pension payments into the early warning platform to achieve data interconnection and sharing; for administrative cadres and middle-level and above cadres of state-owned enterprises and institutions in the city, timely warnings were issued on clues of illegal part-time jobs and remuneration, and after consultation and judgment, they were dealt with in accordance with regulations and disciplines. So far, the city has discovered 27 people who have received illegal part-time jobs through the application of early warnings, and all rectifications have been completed.

Use cases to promote reform and governance, and strengthen warning education. The Xuyi County Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Jiangsu Province held a special lecture for retired party members and cadres, filmed a special warning education film on "illegal part-time work and remuneration", and compiled and printed a pocket book "Top Ten Disciplinary Violations after Retirement", etc., to educate and guide retired party members and cadres to tighten the string of integrity and self-discipline. The Rencheng District Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Jining City filmed and produced a short video on discipline and law "You Can't "Job" at Will", educating party members and cadres to be disciplined and abide by the rules. The Hongkou District Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Shanghai selected typical cases of leading cadres taking part-time jobs and not reporting or not reporting truthfully to the organization, and filmed a warning education film "Iron Discipline" with the theme of "Six Disciplines", and held a warning education conference for the whole district. More than 500 department-level party members and cadres in the district received education on the spot.

(Source: Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and National Supervisory Commission website)