Supervisory panels to monitor officials

New supervisory commissions will incorporate existing supervisory, corruption prevention and control agencies within the governments and procuratorates, under a decision made by the top legislature on Saturday.

The pilot project of reforming the supervision system, launched in Beijing, and Shanxi and Zhejiang provinces in January, will be expanded nationwide, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress decided on Saturday at its bimonthly session, which was closed.

Supervisory commissions will be set up across the country by people's congresses at provincial, city and county-levels within their jurisdictions to supervise those exercising public power.

The commissions would be in charge of three major duties: supervision, investigation and punishment.

They will supervise public functionaries' execution of duty and ethics; investigate illegal activities such as graft, misuse of authority, neglect of duty and wasting public funds; issue administrative penalties; and transfer suspected criminal cases to the procuratorates, according to the decision.

It also specified a series of means could be used in carrying out those duties, including inquiry, search, freezing assets and detention.

Some regulations of related laws, such as the laws on administrative supervision and criminal procedure, would be temporarily adjusted or suspended during the reform.

Lawmakers also adopted a decision to temporarily adjust the laws of national defense and armed police to facilitate the reform of the armed police force.

Xinhua