Online purchase system boosts transparency [China Daily]

Contributing to transparency and social equity: A great leap forward to better days ahead stamping out unacceptable practices?

Reportedly, 3.8 billion yuan ($598 million) has been saved by the Shenzhen metropolis in a bid for local government to become more transparent and efficient.

Singapore’s equivalent geBiz has been doing the same useful job for years and there have been abuses from time to time.

China’s online purchase system seems more stringent, gleaned from the quote below –

“An evaluation normally includes four experts randomly generated from our expert database and the project leader; they carry it out inside one of our evaluation rooms, all monitored… Smaller evaluations take half a day, bigger ones several days.” – Zhao Qifeng, bidding evaluation administrator

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Online purchase system boosts transparency
By Huang Yuli
Source – China Daily, published December 19, 2011

SHENGZHEN, Guangdong – Eight years after this South China metropolis set up an online procurement system, official statistics suggest the city government has become more transparent and efficient.

Since the policy was introduced, the city has saved more than 3.8 billion yuan ($598 million), according to the Shenzhen procurement center’s work report to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China.

As one of seven pilot cities in the country’s procurement innovation project, led by the Office of the Central Leading Group on Financial and Economic Affairs, the city has made all purchases using its online system, said Ye Jianming, director of the procurement center.

Filed under: 52 Unacceptable Practices, Beijing Consensus, Charm Offensive, Chinese Model, Corruption, Democracy, Domestic Growth, Economics, Finance, Fraud, Government & Policy, Internet, Mapping Feelings, Media, Politics, Population, Public Diplomacy, Reform, Social, Technology, The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities

Investors Spooked by China [Wall Street Journal]

Collateral damage? Baidu and Sina reportedly suffer loss in investor confidence due to alleged accounting frauds at little-known Chinese companies listed in the U.S.

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Investors Spooked by China
Small-Stock Accounting Scandals Are Breeding Deeper Fears
By OWEN FLETCHER And DINNY MCMAHON
Source – Wall Street Journal, published September 30, 2011

A man watches computer monitors at an office in Shanghai. Photo – Reuters

BEIJING—Investors dumped the stocks of some of China’s biggest Internet companies, as scandals with some smaller Chinese firms has shaken Wall Street’s confidence in the country’s businesses.

U.S.-listed shares of China’s leading search engine, Baidu.com Inc., and Sina Corp., the operator of the country’s Twitter-like messaging service, plunged 16% and 18%, respectively, in the last two days of trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market even though these companies haven’t been accused of wrongdoing.

A series of alleged accounting frauds this year at little-known Chinese companies listed in the U.S. has triggered a sharp shift in sentiment among investors, who are now worried about hidden business risks or financial problems.

Filed under: Beijing Consensus, Chinese Model, Corruption, Culture, Domestic Growth, Economics, Finance, Fraud, Influence, Internet, Media, Technology, The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities, Trade, U.S., Wall Street Journal

China’s Alibaba bosses step down after fraud probe [The Age/AFP]

Alibaba, the Chinese site which helps customers in the West source for goods from more than half-a-million Chinese factories has had its bosses brought down; by fake storefronts guilty of defrauding customers.

‘In general, the fake suppliers offered popular consumer electronics at very low prices, with small minimum order quantities and less reliable payment methods, the company said, without giving further details of the products… Alibaba shares closed down 3.47 percent in Hong Kong on Monday at HK$16.68 ($2.14)’

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China’s Alibaba bosses step down after fraud probe
D’Arcy Doran
Source – The Age, published February 21, 2011

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.com said Monday its chief executive and head of operations had resigned after a probe found fraudulent suppliers had used the site to cheat buyers.

David Wei and Elvis Lee resigned as chief executive officer and chief operating officer respectively, accepting responsibility for “systemic breakdowns” that allowed the fraud to happen, the company said in a statement.

“The investigation confirmed that Mr Wei and Mr Lee and other members of senior management were not involved in any of the activities that led to the claims by buyers against fraudulent suppliers,” the statement said.

Filed under: AFP, Corruption, Crime, Domestic Growth, Economics, Fraud, Internet, The Age, Trade