A WATER AND SOIL EROSION TREATMENT PROJECT in Huangyuan county, Central China's Hunan province, was a cash cow for more than 50 officials of county, city and the provincial governments. Guangming Daily comments:

Xinhua News Agency reported that the officials siphoned off nearly 68 percent of the 10 million yuan ($1.57 million) that the central government provided for the project. The fund was serially fleeced at least six times before reaching the project site. What is noteworthy is, this happened in 2013 after the central authorities' anti-graft campaign had heated up.

The project should have covered an area of 300 hectares. But on completion, it only treated 67 hectares of land. It should not have been difficult to spot the corruption clues. But the collective corruption was not uncovered until late 2015 when the National Audit Office carried out a spot check.

The project and the projected spending of the funds had gone through all the procedures required by relevant rules and regulations, there being supervisory mechanisms to oversee the quality of such projects, how the government funds will be used and the tendering process. But all the supervisory bodies were sated with a share of the funds.

Even now, the project is still trumpeted as an achievement.

The reports show that corrupt officials are still looking to find ways to get around the anti-graft institutional designs. And that there is still a long way to go to form a healthy atmosphere in which officials dare not be corrupt.

The case indicates that instead of taking the initiative to fight against corruption, many officials are still sniffing around for opportunities to monetarize their power.

Thus, the central authorities should carry out a sweeping investigation on how government funds are being used, particularly in ecological and environmental protection, poverty alleviation and industrial upgrading projects, and never ease the anti-graft campaign no matter how many corrupt officials have been uprooted.