On August 25, 2010, Xinhua News Agency reported that the central Party would continue its campaign to reign in the practice among Party and government offices and government-sponsored institutions of keeping “private coffers” (小金库), or stashes of unreported, off-the-books revenue. Xinhua reported that the Party has discovered 24,877 such “small coffers” since April 2009, totaling 12.24 billion yuan. In a subsequent interview, however, well-known anti-corruption expert Lin Zhe (林喆) said cracking down on the practice would be difficult. Why? Because in the vast majority of cases, said Lin, the whistle was blown on “small coffers” only when people inside government offices or government-sponsored institutions felt they had been denied their proper share in the “spoils.” In this cartoon posted to his QQ blog, artist Shang Haichun (商海春) depicts a fat official or employee walking off with the ‘small coffer’ cash box.” A skinny man behind him holds an empty bag labeled “spoils” and picks up the phone, saying “I’m informing on you!”


David Bandurski

CMP Director

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