Xayaboury disciplines 102 officials, expels 10 from Party

The Xayaboury provincial leadership has disciplined 102 officials and Party cadres over corruption, drug abuse and other forms of misconduct, according to an official report.
They included 10 Party members who were expelled from the Party and another 27 alternative Party members who were also dismissed, according to a report presented at the recent annual meeting of the provincial Organisation and Personnel Department.
Four Party members have been demoted to a lower rank and seven Party cadres have been banned from participating in the Party’s activities.
Eleven officials including a woman were given warnings concerning their wrongdoing, according to the report.
The disciplined cadres and officials violated the Party’s regulations and state laws as well as being involved in corruption and other forms of misconduct.
Their inappropriate actions were discovered between October 2017 and April 2019.
Some 19 officials were found to be involved in drug abuse and trade, while eight were involved in sex scandals. One official was found to be in possession of hunting equipment, in violation of the relevant regulation.
Three officials were found to have embezzled people’s assets.
The province’s Organisation and Personnel Department said these issues were a ‘great concern’. It said the moral values of some Party cadres and officials concerning their services to the nation and people had declined, as had their ideological ethics.
As a result, the Party cadres and officials in question had abused their power for personal gain and engaged in corruption, while some were autocratic.
In addition, some Party members did not participate in the Party’s activities after gaining membership, while some failed to act as good role models for members of the public as required.
In October, Xayaboury province’s Party Inspection Committee reported that authorities found that more than 210.73 billion kip had been lost to corruption since 2015, in cases that involved 24 state officials. Most of the incidents were found to have occurred at the state-owned Agriculture Promotion Bank branch in Xayaboury.
The report on discipline in the province is the latest move by the Party and state leadership in intensifying efforts to address corruption, autocratic behaviour and misconduct among Party cadres and state officials.
The growing commitment to combatting malpractice has resulted in frequent reports exposing such incidents. 
In September 2018, the Ministry of Finance expelled eight corrupt officials, many of them in senior positions.
Earlier, Savannakhet province disciplined more than 30 officials for misconduct and corruption.

By Souksakhone Vaenkeo
(Latest Update May 10, 2019)