US Dollar Exchange Rates of 30th November 2008
China Yuan 6.8259
Report from China
Chinese officials convicted of environmental crimes
The China Daily has reported that nearly 368 officials
have been convicted of environmental mismanagement. Of
the 2,074 cases opened on natural resources, 314 cases
were closed in the first nine months of the year. The
Supreme People¡¯s Procuratorate (SPP), Song Hansong,
said that there was a higher incidence of breach of duty
among supervising land use, mineral resources and forest
management officials. He noted that the cases involved
1,467 deaths, 154 injured and a 1.6 billion yuan loss.
The largest number of officials investigated were from
forestry departments, with 521 land management officials
included in the investigations. Saying that many of the
cases occurred at the local level, he noted a typical case in
Leping city of eastern Jiangxi Province where about 20 ha
of protected forest were illegally logged after two
individuals submitted fake documents to government
officials to conduct logging operations. It was reported
that five officials from the township government, the local
forest reserve station and the city¡¯s forestry bureau
received jail sentences of six months to a year.
Three billion yuan fund to assist SMEs
According to The China Daily, the China Association of
Small and Medium Enterprises (CASME) established a
RM3 billion yuan fund to assist the country¡¯s small and
medium enterprises (SMEs). When established, any
industrial company with sales revenues of up to 300
million yuan could receive assistance from the funds. It
was noted that SMEs were shrinking due to lack of
available loans and rising costs. The country has sought to
assist SMEs, as they represent 60% of the national GDP
and remain an important sector to the country.
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