497 Chinese officials retract stakes in coal mines
China's National Bureau of
Production Safety Supervision and Administration announced that 497 governmental officials have heeded an August 30th notice and withdrawn their
investments in coal mines.
According to the notice, officials who failed to retract their
investments would be removed from their posts.
Among the 497 officials who followed the state instruction, 325 are government officials and 172 are company officials in state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
In
China, some coal mines are owned, or partly-owned, by local officials.
China's poor mine safety record is sometimes blamed on the owners' ability to circumvent official regulations.
Since the beginning of this year,
China has enacted a series of measures to combat the corruption behind mine accidents.