The run is particularly striking because China's stock markets have historically been stagnant financial backwaters, marred by scandal, weak oversight and fundamental contradictions.

He said that the combination of weak oversight and an incentive-based contract for Bechtel would "set the stage for a quick and dirty cleanup."

The result of the lack of resources was both weak oversight (only between 1 and 5 percent of applications were rejected) and longer delays.

Whether there are official standards established for the Swift program or not, the weak Congressional oversight over the past five years deserved public scrutiny.

However, the Parliament provides weak oversight of the executive branch.

Critics say the main weakness in Japan's nuclear industry is weak oversight.

The danger is attributed to design flaws, tattered economies, political disorder and weak regulatory oversight.

The Health Department has become increasingly aggressive in the last year in inspecting and fining nursing homes, after several years of what critics called weak oversight.

But those measures do not address some of the most serious problems: the use of justices who are not lawyers, and the state's weak oversight.

Ms. Minow said the severance plan was part of a broader pattern of weak oversight by Merck's directors.