People's livelihood security| Study and implement the Disciplinary Punishment Regulations丨Identification and handling of clearly unfair conduct in the protection of people's livelihood

The Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Guzhang County, Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Hunan Province, focused on the management and use of subsidy funds for benefiting the people and farmers, organized discipline inspection and supervision cadres to supervise at the front, and seriously investigated and dealt with outstanding problems such as favoring relatives and friends, and obvious unfairness. The picture shows the county's discipline inspection and supervision cadres learning about the relevant situation at the blueberry planting base in Changtan Village, Guyang Town. Photo by Hou Zhengli

Special guests

Li Xiangzhong, Deputy Secretary of the Qingdao Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection, Deputy Director of the Supervision Commission, and Director of the Inspection Office of the Municipal Party Committee, Shandong Province

Wang Honghai is the deputy director of the 14th Discipline Inspection and Supervision Office of the Anhui Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision

Wei Changlou Deputy Secretary of the Commission for Discipline Inspection and Deputy Director of the Supervision Commission of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture in Guizhou Province

There is no trivial matter in people's livelihood, and the branches and leaves are always related. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized, "We must pay special attention, care and care for the people in need, and help them solve their problems." "As the special organs of the Party and the state for supervision, discipline inspection and supervision organs are responsible for safeguarding the vital interests of the people, and they must adhere to the people-centered development philosophy and resolutely "show their swords" against problems that infringe on the interests of the masses. What are the enhancements and improvements made in the newly revised Regulations on Disciplinary Actions of the Communist Party of China (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations") on the punishment provisions for obviously unfair acts in the protection of people's livelihood? In practice, how to judge "favoring relatives and friends" and "obviously unfair"? How to distinguish between personal corruption and favoritism? How to judge the severity of the disciplinary violation? We specially invited discipline inspection and supervision cadres to hold discussions.

What are the enhancements and improvements to the punishment provisions for obviously unfair behaviors in the protection of people's livelihood, and what are the criteria for judging "favoring relatives and friends" and "obviously unfair" in practice?

Wang Honghai: The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that "we must persist in ensuring and improving people's livelihood in the process of development" and "take more measures to benefit people's livelihood and warm people's hearts, and strive to solve the problems of people's urgency, hardship and longing". Supervision and discipline enforcement found that a small number of party members and cadres were unfair in the distribution of funds and materials for people's livelihood security, favored relatives and friends, and even had the distribution of "favors", which chilled the hearts of the masses, affected the implementation of the state's policy of benefiting the people, and undermined the credibility of the party and the government.

The newly revised "Regulations" implement the relevant requirements of the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and enrich the punishment provisions for favoring relatives and friends in social assistance and obviously unfair behavior in Article 124. As an important part of the social security system, social assistance refers to the system in which the state and society provide financial assistance and living assistance to citizens who are in difficulty due to various reasons, so as to ensure their minimum living needs.

In addition to social assistance, social security, policy support, and the distribution of disaster relief funds and materials are all areas regulated by Article 124 of the Regulations. Among them, social security refers to a series of systems and measures such as social insurance, assistance, and subsidies formulated by the state through legislation, aiming to provide comprehensive and multi-level basic living security for members of society, maintain social stability, and promote social fairness and justice. Policy support refers to the preferential and convenient measures taken by the state in terms of finance, taxation, labor and employment in order to support specific groups or encourage certain undertakings, aiming to help specific groups improve their living conditions and promote economic and social development. Disaster relief refers to the relief and comfort measures taken by the state to alleviate the impact of disasters on the people and ensure the basic livelihood of the people affected by disasters after the occurrence of natural disasters or other emergencies, including the distribution of funds and materials to the people affected by disasters and the provision of temporary shelter. Party members and cadres should strictly follow the policy norms, handle them fairly and justly, correctly handle public and private relations, and ensure that the policy of benefiting the people is implemented to the letter.

Li Xiangzhong: "Favoring relatives and friends" mainly refers to the behavior of party members and cadres engaged in social security, policy support, and other livelihood security work, who do not follow the democratic decision-making procedures and do not follow the prescribed standards in the course of performing official duties, fail to correctly handle the relationship between relatives, friends and the masses, favor one over the other, and infringe on the interests of the masses. In practice, it is mainly judged from the following dimensions: first, it is subjectively intentional, that is, in matters such as social security and policy support, knowing that it is carrying out acts that favor relatives and friends, is obviously unfair, and harms the interests of the masses, but still hopes or allows unfair results to occur for the purpose of seeking benefits for relatives and friends; Second, it has objectively implemented the behavior of "preferential" and "thick", that is, the implementation of policies is tilted towards relatives and friends, so that relatives and friends receive preferential treatment.

"Obviously unfair" mainly refers to a large deviation in the implementation of the policy, the recipients who should be helped have not received assistance, the recipients who do not meet the conditions for assistance have received assistance, or under the same conditions, the amount or value of funds and materials issued is very different, which is obviously unfair and unjust. In practice, it is mainly judged from the following dimensions: first, it should be "unfair", if Party members and cadres correctly perform their duties without favoritism when implementing relevant policies, and their relatives and friends also meet the distribution conditions stipulated in the policies and have performed the relevant procedures in accordance with the regulations, it should not be determined to be "unfair"; Second, if the distribution is unfair, but the difference is small and not obvious enough, Party members and cadres can be criticized and educated, and it is not appropriate to be found to be a violation of discipline.

It should be pointed out that the extension of obvious unfairness is greater than that of favoring relatives and friends, and favoring relatives and friends is necessarily obviously unfair, but obviously unfair does not necessarily belong to favoring relatives and friends. For example, if a grassroots Party member or cadre deliberately conceals the fact that he is related to one of the villagers in the process of applying for the subsistence allowance for a villager, and gives priority to applying for the subsistence allowance for his relatives when the number of places is limited and there are people who are more difficult than his relatives, this behavior should be found to be "favoring relatives and friends, and obviously unfair". In another example, the party branch of a certain village collectively researched and decided that in the process of distributing compensation for demolition, on the basis of clarifying the compensation standards for demolition and relocation, the villagers were artificially divided into "old villagers" and "new villagers" according to the time they settled in the village, and the payment standards for "old villagers" were higher than those for "new villagers".

How to determine how to help others defraud social security, social assistance and other funds, and how to distinguish between personal corruption and favoring relatives and friends?

Weichang Building: Social security, social assistance, policy support, and the distribution of disaster relief funds and materials are important and important matters related to the people's right to survival and development, the right to life and health, and the people's livelihood. In practice, a small number of Party members and cadres are not only unfair and unjust in the work of ensuring people's livelihood, but even help others to defraud people's livelihood security funds. We believe that we can focus on the following four aspects: first, whether the perpetrator has subjective intent to possess; second, to see whether there is a conspiracy between the two parties; Third, look at the impact of losses and hazards caused; Fourth, see whether the perpetrator has profited from it.

If the perpetrator objectively provided assistance to others to defraud people's livelihood security funds, but subjectively did not have the intent to possess the funds, and the losses and impact caused were small, it may be found to be a violation of public discipline, work discipline, and so forth; If it causes significant damage to public property, it may constitute the crime of abuse of power. For example, if a staff member of an affordable housing approval department provides assistance to others when he knows that others do not meet the requirements for applying for low-rent housing, causing multiple low-rent houses to be rented by unqualified persons, causing major economic losses to the state, it may constitute the crime of abuse of power. If, in the course of helping others defraud others of livelihood security funds, the perpetrator also accepts benefits from others, a comprehensive assessment should be conducted based on the size of the amount involved in the case, the amount of losses caused, and the time point at which the main violations of discipline and law occurred, and if the benefits received meet the criminal standards, it may constitute the crime of accepting bribes, and the punishment is generally concurrent with the crime of dereliction of duty; where the standards for criminalization are not met, the provisions on the convergence of discipline and law are to be applied. If the perpetrator and others jointly fabricate false materials or instruct others to fabricate false materials to carry out fraudulent acts, and obtain benefits from them, it may constitute the crime of corruption or fraud, depending on factors such as the identity of the perpetrator and the object of the violation.

In addition, when determining this type of conduct, it is also necessary to distinguish and grasp whether Party members and cadres have been defrauded of relevant funds and goods due to personal business unfamiliarity, negligence, and other reasons, and if they have no subjective motive and possibility of helping, they will generally be determined as a violation of work discipline, and if the circumstances are serious, they may be suspected of dereliction of duty.

Li Xiangzhong: In the work of ensuring people's livelihood, the distinction between personal corruption and favoritism for relatives and friends can be considered from the following three aspects. First, judging from the subjective intention, personal corruption is for the purpose of the perpetrator's own illegal possession, while favoring relatives and friends is for the purpose of seeking benefits for relatives and friends; Second, judging from the beneficiary object, the beneficiary of personal corruption is himself, and the beneficiary of favoring relatives and friends is relatives and friends; Third, judging from the object of infringement, the object of personal corruption infringement focuses on the integrity of official conduct and the ownership of public funds, and the object of infringement by favoring relatives and friends focuses on the interests of the masses.

For example, in the process of assisting the county and township people's governments in distributing compensation for demolition and relocation in their own villages, Sun Mou, secretary of the party branch and director of the village committee, falsely reported his son as the target of demolition compensation by separating households with his son, and fraudulently received 50,000 yuan in compensation for demolition and relocation and took it as his own.

In this case, first of all, from the subjective intention, Sun's purpose was to illegally occupy public funds, not to seek benefits for relatives and friends. By separating the household with his son and falsely reporting his son as the target of compensation for demolition, Sun defrauded public funds and took them for himself, which had an obvious purpose of illegal possession. Secondly, from the perspective of the beneficiaries, Sun falsely reported his son as the target of compensation for demolition and relocation, and it was Sun and his family who ultimately benefited, rather than other relatives and friends. It should be noted that if a Party member or cadre falsely designates a person with a specific relationship (spouse, parents, children, etc.) as the target of a specific fund distribution, because it has common interests with the person with the specific relationship, and the ultimate beneficiary is still the Party member or cadre himself or his family, it shall be deemed to be in the nature of corruption or embezzlement; If the recipient of the funds is an ordinary relative or friend of a person who is not a person with a specific relationship, and the property is not in the possession of the Party member or cadre himself, it may be found to be a violation of public discipline, work discipline, or dereliction of duty based on the actual circumstances. Finally, from the perspective of the object of infringement, the object of infringement in this case is the ownership of public property, not the interests of the masses. Sun falsely listed his son as a target for demolition compensation, because his son himself did not meet the scope of distribution stipulated in the policy, and was "creating something out of nothing", which met the constitutive elements of the crime of corruption, but the act did not cause substantial harm to the interests of other villagers in the village who should receive compensation for demolition and relocation, so it was not a violation of public discipline.

In the work of ensuring people's livelihood, how to deal with the masses who take the opportunity to eat and take cards or accept gifts and money? How to judge the severity of the circumstances when qualitatively measuring the obvious unfairness of people's livelihood protection?

Li Xiangzhong: "Eat and take cards" is a vivid portrayal of party members and cadres who use their positions to facilitate the use of their positions to solicit benefits from management and service objects in the process of performing their duties. The so-called "eating" is mainly to accept the banquet of the management and service objects; The so-called "taking" generally refers to relying on the right of management to forcibly occupy the items of the management and service objects; The so-called "want" usually takes the initiative to ask for money and things from management and service objects by making demands and hints; The "card" is deliberately difficult to manage and serve the object, to create obstacles for it, and the purpose of the "card" is mostly to "eat, take, and want". In essence, these violations of discipline regard the duty of serving the masses as the privilege of managing the masses and take the opportunity to abuse power for personal gain, embodying the "great willfulness" behind the "small power" and cannot be tolerated by the party's discipline.

If Party members and cadres take the opportunity to ask for cards from the masses in social security, social assistance, policy support, and the distribution of funds and materials for disaster relief, they violate Article 124 of the "Regulations" and also violate the provisions of Article 122, Paragraph 1 (5), and they shall be dealt with together. If Party members or cadres solicit property or accept property in a relatively large amount, which meets the standards for criminal prosecution and meets the constitutive elements of the crime of accepting bribes as provided for in the Criminal Law, it shall be handled in accordance with the characterization of the crime of accepting bribes. Where conduct infringing on the interests of the masses is typical and the circumstances are serious, consideration may be given to conducting an assessment of their conduct violating public discipline at the disciplinary level at the same time.

Wei Changlou: When qualitatively measuring the behavior of favoring relatives and friends and obviously unfairness in people's livelihood protection matters, it is necessary to grasp the severity of the circumstances in terms of the specific category of funds and goods, the objects involved, and the consequences and impacts that have been caused or may be caused.

First, look at the urgency of the demand for money and goods. Social security, social assistance, policy support, disaster relief funds and materials are related to the basic livelihood of the people in difficulty, food, clothing, medical care, etc., and are the basic guarantees of the bottom line, and have special and urgently needed characteristics. Among these four types of funds, disaster relief and social assistance are more urgent and urgent needs of the people than those of security and policy support, and they can also be reflected in the measurement of discipline.

Second, look at the scope, object, and amount involved in the act. Whether it is social security, policy support, social assistance, or disaster relief funds, the scope of the objects involved and the amount of money involved are also important factors to consider in qualitative measurement. Where the scope is wide, the more targets of the violation, and the larger the amount, the circumstances are generally found to be more serious.

Third, look at the length and number of crimes. It depends on whether the violation of discipline or law is one or multiple times, and if it is multiple times, it is generally determined that the circumstances of the violation of discipline are more serious; In terms of the duration of disciplinary violations, the circumstances of occasional violations of discipline and law are less severe than those that last for a long time and are carried out one after another.

Fourth, look at the consequences and impacts. Whether the perpetrator's violations of discipline or law caused damage to the interests of many people, or a small number or individuals, as well as the scope and extent of the impact, whether they caused mass incidents, negative public opinion, and so forth, the extent to which the image and credibility of the Party and government were damaged, and the extent to which the relationship between the Party and the masses and between cadres and the masses was undermined, are also important factors in judging the severity of the circumstances.

Fifth, look at the time node and the attitude of the actor. It depends on whether the behavior occurred before or after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and the further it goes, the heavier the punishment will generally be. The actor's attitude is also an important factor in qualitative measurement, and is specifically judged in conjunction with circumstances such as the actor's admission of mistakes and repentance, recovering losses, and eliminating impacts.

It should be pointed out that the consequences of the obvious unfair behavior of people's livelihood protection should be corrected in a timely manner: first, the income of Party members and cadres who violate discipline and law shall be recovered in accordance with the principle of pursuing all of them; Second, if it is obtained by the masses and infringes on the interests of the masses, it must be returned to the masses; Third, the improper benefits obtained by the relevant personnel, including non-property interests such as property interests and preferential policies, should be corrected; Fourth, if there is a serious impact on violations of discipline and law, it is also possible to use methods such as formulating and issuing circulars, convening press conferences, and convening mass meetings to inform the masses of the facts of the case, explain discipline and explain the law, eliminate the negative impact, win the understanding and approval of the masses, and truly make the masses feel that comprehensively and strictly administering the party is close to them, and that upright conduct, discipline, and anti-corruption are all around them.

How can discipline inspection and supervision organs supervise and ensure the implementation of the policy of benefiting the people to the letter?

Wang Honghai: As the special organs of the Party and the state for supervision, discipline inspection and supervision organs should adhere to the thinking of system integration, start with small incisions, carry out supervision and inspection, strengthen case investigation and handling, explore the integration of various types of supervision, and escort the implementation of policies benefiting the people.

The first is to focus on urgency, hardship and hope, and strengthen supervision and inspection. Firmly establish the concept of people first, focus on the most direct and realistic medical, pension, health and other issues that the masses are most concerned about, go deep into the grassroots to carry out special research on the operation of "small and micro powers" and the performance of responsibilities of functional departments, formulate a "key list" of supervision for shortcomings and weaknesses, and set the direction of supervision, coordinate the discipline inspection and supervision forces at the grassroots level to carry out "point-point" supervision and inspection, deepen the linkage supervision of "room group" and "room group", and make good use of the "supervision and supervision" platform of small and micro powers, and form a list management, supervision and supervision. Regular review and other work closed-loop to improve the effectiveness of supervision.

The second is to integrate the "three non-corruptions" into the whole process of supervision. It is necessary to adhere to systematic thinking, promote the integration of supervision, case handling, and governance, and grasp the strength, rhythm, and strategy as a whole. Adhere to high-pressure deterrence. Solidly carry out the concentrated rectification of unhealthy trends and corruption around the masses, pay close attention to key areas and key links, resolutely investigate and deal with behaviors such as favoring relatives and friends, eating and taking cards, embezzlement and corruption, and seeking personal gains, and severely punish "flies, greed, and ant corruption". Insist on consolidating the foundation and cultivating the yuan. Combine severe punishment of corruption with strict systems, strict requirements, and serious education, and urge relevant departments to strengthen industry supervision, carry out special rectification, and improve systems and mechanisms; Use the "database" of warning education to give warnings to similar cadres at the same level, and to do in-depth special governance warnings, and strive to give full play to the role of investigating and dealing with one case, warning one area, and educating one area.

The third is to integrate and improve the efficiency of supervision and governance. On the one hand, the responsibilities of all parties are consolidated. Take the "number one" as the focus of daily supervision, inspection and audit supervision, timely remind and warn of the problems found, and promote the construction of the main responsibility of the party committee, the responsibility of the first responsible person of the secretary, the "one post and two responsibilities" of the team members, and the "four responsibilities of the same frequency" of the supervision responsibility of the Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision. On the other hand, we should work together to tap potential internally. Actively explore the linkage between discipline inspection and supervision, inspections and inspections, and the linkage supervision of "room groups", focusing on the implementation of the Party Central Committee's policies to benefit the people, the implementation of practical matters in people's livelihood, and corruption and work style problems that the masses have strongly resented, and promote the resolution of a number of backlog problems in people's livelihood that have been delayed for a long time and passed the buck. At the same time, strengthen coordination with government supervision departments and relevant functional departments, establish a joint investigation and quick handling coordination mechanism, effectively improve the efficiency of supervision and governance in the process of coordination, and open up the "last mile" of comprehensive and strict governance of the party.

Wei Changlou: Supervising and ensuring the full implementation of the party's and the state's policies to benefit the people is not only an important part of promoting the concretization, precision, and normalization of political supervision, but also a concrete embodiment of the discipline inspection and supervision organs' practice of people-centered development ideas. In light of the actual work, we believe that we should work the "three strengthenings."

Efforts should be made to strengthen the integration of the system of supervision. The project funds involved in the policy of benefiting the people are multifaceted and difficult to supervise, so it is necessary to tighten and consolidate the responsibilities of all parties at all levels, gather the joint force of supervision, promote the connection of various types of supervision, and build a full-chain supervision system. The first is to consolidate the main responsibility of the party committee and the government, and after the party committee and the government make decisions and formulate policies, they should pay close attention to the implementation of the competent departments; The second is to consolidate the regulatory responsibilities of the competent departments, and strengthen supervision in the implementation of distribution arrangements, capital subsidies, and policy support. Third, it is necessary to consolidate the responsibilities of relevant departments, such as inspection, finance, auditing, public security and other departments. Fourth, we should consolidate the supervision responsibilities of the discipline inspection and supervision organs, insist on supervising and urging the implementation of the policy of benefiting the people as the top priority of supervision and inspection, grasp the long-term, focus on the source, break the "middle obstruction", correct the process deviation, strictly investigate and implement the problems in the "last mile", and build a strict investigation and strict governance system for the whole chain; Fifth, it is necessary to activate the supervision of the masses, adopt regular visits, bring documents to visit, and unblock channels for communication and reporting, so as to guide the masses to report and expose violations of discipline and law in an orderly manner.

Efforts should be made to strengthen the discovery, investigation, and handling of problems. Insist on grasping small problems as early as possible, and effectively improve the sensitivity, accuracy and effectiveness of finding problems. In advance, it is necessary to pay attention to the implementation of the fund allocation arrangements, approval and review of the policy projects of the people's benefit by the party committees, governments and industry authorities at all levels, and strive to find discounts and flexible behaviors; In the matter, it is necessary to focus on the implementation, implementation and implementation of regulatory responsibilities, and strive to find the problem of lack and absence of regulatory responsibilities; After the event, it is necessary to pay attention to the repercussions and effects of the implementation of the policy of benefiting the people, expand and understand the implementation of the policy, the public injustice, whether the masses recognize it or not, and are not satisfied, and follow the line to investigate the wind and correct the responsibility and anti-corruption.

Efforts should be made to strengthen the long-term supervision of the mechanism. First, we must promote public announcements. Sunlight is the best preservative. An important reason for the lack of implementation of the policy of benefiting the people is that the public announcement is not in place. Therefore, it is necessary to adhere to the further deepening of the openness of government affairs and village affairs as an important starting point to promote the implementation of the policy of benefiting the people, and ensure that the project funds are operated and implemented under supervision. Second, we must pay attention to the empowerment of science and technology. Give full play to the functional role of big data and informatization, promote the management of policies that benefit the people and project funds, strengthen source and process traceability, and make joint efforts online and offline. (Reporter Liu Yilin)

Source: China Discipline Inspection and Supervision News

Column planner: Zhang Ying

Editor in charge: Fu Jiao