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Pillow talk lands Chinese officials in jail
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/06/26/china.mistresses/index.html?iref=newssearch

Story Highlights
Report: Mistresses help exposed corruption of government officials

Law in China requires officials found with mistresses to be dismissed

China has increased efforts in recent years to reduce government corruption

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- Corruption and mistresses don't make good bedfellows.

Authorities in southern China are using information obtained from mistresses of government officials to crack down on corruption, state media reported Thursday.

At least 80 percent of government officials arrested for corruption in the city of Dongguan in Guangdong province were exposed thanks to their mistresses, the China Daily said.

They "gave us important information that we did not possess," Zhou Yuefeng, deputy director of Dongguan's anti-graft bureau, told the state-run newspaper.

Beijing has been trying to rein in corruption for several years. A law that went into effect last year mandates that government officials found to have mistresses be dismissed from their posts.

In recent years, the country has seen several highly publicized corruption cases involving officials who steal -- in part to provide for their mistresses.

Besides mistresses, the officials who were arrested in Dongguan were accepting bribes, the daily said.


Crackdown on officials with mistresses
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSPEK26765020070629

BEIJING (Reuters) - China plans to sack all officials found to have secretly "kept and supported" mistresses, in a move aimed at raising social morals, state media reported on Friday.

The step hardens up previous policy.

"It is a misunderstanding that officials who have mistresses would only be sacked when the situation is serious," the Beijing News quoted a Ministry of Personnel spokesman as saying.

Mistresses and "second wives" are common among government officials and businessmen in China, and Chinese media have said the financial pressures of keeping mistresses have driven some officials to seek money through bribes or abuse of power.

Corrupt officials are a major cause of public outrage in China, and the country's Communist rulers have warned that if graft is not checked it could threaten the party's grip on power.

The ministry said it had studied the issue and found it "necessary to make a clarification and emphasis" on the punishment for officials who supported mistresses.

"The morality of government officials shown in their management or power operation... directly affects the moral level of the whole society," the spokesman was quoted as saying.

"Therefore, officials should set up good examples, and abide by social morality rules."

Last year, a Chinese vice admiral was jailed for life on embezzlement charges after one of his many mistresses blew the whistle on him when he refused to give in to her demand for money.