System fine-tuned to boost high pressure against graft

China has unveiled a road map for establishing a powerful supervisory system that oversees all officials to maintain high pressure against corruption.

The drafting of a law on national supervision will be sped up this year, and the draft will be submitted to the top legislature — the National People’s Congress — for final deliberation in March 2018, according to the country’s top graft-buster Wang Qishan.

A national supervisory commission may also be established at the same time if a majority of the approximately 3,000 national legislators agree.

“The national supervisory commission is the State organ to fight corruption, and the essence of formulating the national supervision law is to carry forward anticorruption legislation at the State-level,” Wang said on Jan 6 while delivering a work report at a plenary session of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the top discipline watchdog. The report was made public on Thursday.

In December, the NPC Standing Committee endorsed a pilot program to reform the country’s supervisory system by setting up powerful supervisory commissions.

Those commissions will integrate government supervision departments and corruption prevention bureaus, as well as divisions that handle bribery, dereliction of duty and prevention of duty-related crimes under the people’s procuratorates.

The supervisory system reform will be piloted in Beijing and Shanxi and Zhejiang provinces.

According to Wang, provincial-level supervisory commissions will be set up by the end of March, and municipal and county-level commissions will be established before June in the three pilot regions.

Wang also said in his speech that international cooperation against corruption should be improved this year. He added that he was confident that new achievements would be made in returning fugitives through the “Sky Net” campaign in 2017.

Wang said 2,566 fugitives have been returned to China and more than 8.6 billion yuan ($1.25 billion) of ill-gotten assets recovered since the “Sky Net” drive began in 2014.

To display the country’s firm determination to eliminate corruption and seek more international assistance, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection on Thursday briefed its anti-corruption work to representatives of diplomatic missions from 113 countries and 13 offices of international organizations in China.

It is the first time that the top discipline watchdog has invited so many foreign envoys to visit the commission and communicate with anti-graft officials.

Leonidas Rokanas, Greek ambassador to China, said that the event demonstrates the openness and transparency of the commission.