Another high-level official was tried in China this month on
corruption charges. Like many before him he was not tried far from
the place in which he worked and carried influence.
Wang Youjie, deputy director of the standing committee of Henan
provincial people's congress, stood trial in Jingzhou of Hubei
province for receiving bribes worth 6.34 million yuan (about
US$812,820) and possessing 7.56 million yuan (around US$969,230)
worth of property he couldn't account for.
In November, Wang Zhaoyao, former deputy secretary of Anhui
provincial committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was
tried in Jinan of Shandong province.
"The measure aims to prevent interference in the legal process,
which is a real threat in places where the official once worked,
and ensure fair trials," said Chen Weidong, law professor of
Beijing-based People's University of China.
He said judges from other locations are more likely to be
independent and fair in the trials, noting that local judges might
have been promoted by the official on trial. He called the practice
"a necessary and effective measure" to cope with corruption.
The practice of trying high-rank officials on corruption charges
in other locations started in 2001 with the trial of Ma Xiangdong,
former deputy mayor of Shenyang, in northeast China's Liaoning
province.
"When the CPC's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection was
investigating Ma's case, the investigators found Ma's wife was
trying to influence the investigation through Ma's network of
connections," said Ren Jianmin, deputy director of the
anti-corruption research center of Tsinghua University.
"So the commission decided to try Ma in another place," he said.
Ma was tried in a court in east China's Jiangsu province.
Since Ma's trial more than 90 percent of the trials of
high-level officials, mainly those at the ministerial or mayoral
levels, have followed this practice.
In these cases the trial courts are designated by the Supreme
People's Procuratorate and the Supreme People's Court. Ren said
trying high-rank officials charged with corruption in other places
was becoming standard practice.
(Xinhua News Agency December 31, 2006)