Rocked last year by a public pension fund scandal, Shanghai wants to put the past behind it.

The city's success as an economic hub depends largely on the integrity of its public servants, Vice-Premier Huang Ju said yesterday.

"There must be an effective system to supervise those who hold key positions in the government and prohibit collaboration between officials and their business connections," he said.

In September 2006, central government investigators exposed that as much as 3.4 billion yuan ($445 million) of the city's public pension fund was loaned to road and real estate development by a company of the municipal labor and social security bureau.

Huang, Shanghai's former mayor, was absent from last year's NPC and CPPCC sessions for health reasons but could attend this year.

The current Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng said Shanghai would draw its lessons from the pension fund graft and do whatever necessary to build a clean government.

Shanghai will have higher standards in its government's public service, which must remain accountable and faithful to the rule of law, Han said in his speech to his fellow delegates.

There will be more transparency to enable supervision from legislators, the public, and the media, Han said.

Some senior officials, most notably the city's former Party secretary Chen Liangyu, were involved in the corrupt deals last year and removed from office.

On January 28, Han announced to the municipal people's congress that all misused pension fund and its interest, 3.7 billion yuan in total, had been retrieved.

Most suspects involved in the misappropriation have been turned in to judicial departments for investigation, with 11 under investigation in Shanghai and a dozen of others dealt with by prosecutors in Jilin and Anhui provinces.

On February 28, nine former municipal officials were expelled from both Communist Party of China and the Shanghai civil service staff, including Zhu Junyi, former director of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Labour and Social Security.

Han also reported that Shanghai was not "held back" economically by the pension fund scandal.

Source: China Daily