China's top judiciaries on Sunday issued a document targeting
"new forms of corruption" in an effort to close loopholes for
corrupt officials, following the regulation issued by China's
disciplinary watchdog in June.
The document, co-issued by the Supreme People's Court (SPC) and
the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP), set a clear definition of
new types of bribe-taking activities.
These activities include illegally receiving stocks and shares
as gifts, buying commodities such as houses or automobiles at low
prices in return for favors, and receiving bribes through gambling
or cooperating with others to operate companies, according to the
document.
The officials who take advantage of their posts to make profits
for others but receive money or gifts after their tenures, and who
seek profits through family members, relatives or specially-related
persons should also be severely punished as bribe takers, the
document said.
In some circumstances, an official may not be the owner of the
bribe, but he or she can still be convicted of bribery because the
intention of the briber is clear, the document read.
The document also said people who help officials covertly secure
bribes as well as other people who help in obtaining bribes will be
punished as "collaborators."
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the
Communist Party of China passed a regulation targeting the same
forms of official corruption that took effect on May 30.
Xia Zanzhong, deputy secretary of the CCDI said official
corruption cases have been more and more concealed in recent years,
while current laws and regulations have no clear and relevant
provisions.
Therefore, the newly issued document and the CCDI regulation
were hailed by law experts as "a well-cooperated step of
intra-Party discipline and the judicial system" to fight against
"more sophisticated power-for-money crimes.”
Officials who have traded power for money were urged by the CCDI
to confess their misconduct before the end of June or else they
would face severe punishment when their wrongdoings are
discovered.
According to official statistics, 979 officials had confessed
their wrongdoings by June 15 in Central China's Henan Province
alone and turned in money totaling 8.21 million yuan (US$1.08
million).
The judicial explanation said "officials who return the money or
gifts they had received in time won't be charged as bribe taking,”
however, "it will make no difference to the graft charges if they
return the money or gifts during an investigation of themselves or
related people."
The document cannot cover all new types of official corruption
cases and courts and procuratorates at all levels should stick to
the principle that any activity of trading power for money should
be regarded as bribe taking, according to the SPC and SPP.
The CPC has been targeting corruption in certain commercial
areas since 2006. That year, prosecuting organs at all levels filed
and investigated 9,582 commercial bribery cases involving 1.5
billion yuan (US$195 million) of illicit money. The commercial
bribery cases mainly occurred in government procurement, medicine
trading, and real estate project development.
To curb corruption over the long term, the CPC Central Committee
has proposed a three-pronged approach involving education, more
efficient systems, and better supervision.
(Xinhua News Agency July 9, 2007)