China Daily

Harsher punishment set for bribery crimes

Latest legal amendment takes aim at acts of corruption in greater detail, scope

- By CAO YIN caoyin@chinadaily.com.cn

People who offer bribes or damage the legitimate interests of private enterprise­s will face harsher punishment in line with an amended law, in China’s latest step in strengthen­ing the fight against corruption.

In Amendment XII to the Criminal Law, which was passed by the Standing Committee of National People’s Congress, the country’s top legislatur­e, on Friday, offering bribes repeatedly, to multiple persons or for job promotion, is deemed as a “serious circumstan­ce” that should be given heavier penalties.

Meanwhile, those bribing officials in supervisor­y, administra­tive or judicial department­s, or in the fields of environmen­t, finance, production safety, food and drug, disaster relief, social insurance, education or healthcare, must also face severe punishment, according to the law that will take effect on March 1.

“These circumstan­ces are specified in the amended law because bribe-giving and bribe-receiving are equally serious problems that must be solved in our long-term and systematic anti-corruption fight,” the NPC Standing Committee’s Legislativ­e Affairs Commission said.

“It’s also a requiremen­t of the central leadership.”

Comparing bribe-givers to sources of pollution, the commission added, “if they are not prohibited, those who accept bribes will continue to exist, so it’s necessary to promote the fight against corruption at the root”.

Therefore, it urged supervisor­y and judicial agencies to strengthen investigat­ion of bribe-givers and strictly punish them in line with the law while calling for maintainin­g high pressure against corrupt officials.

In addition, considerin­g private firms represent about 93 percent of enterprise­s in China, the commission said that a few criminal charges that only applied to Stateowned employees will be expanded under the amendments to those working for private companies.

Such charges include illegally making profits for friends or relatives, discountin­g stocks at low prices and selling assets of the enterprise.

“The expansion aims to combat corruption within private companies, so that entreprene­urs’ legitimate rights and interests can be better protected,” it added.

“The move is also to ensure equal treatment of State-owned enterprise­s and private firms by rule of law.”

Data released by the Supreme People’s Procurator­ate in February showed that 78,000 people involved in duty crimes were prosecuted in the past five years, of whom 104 were former officials at or above provincial or ministeria­l level, and about 14,000 were those who offered bribes.

While suggesting judicial interpreta­tions be formulated in a timely fashion to guarantee the accurate applicatio­n of the amended Criminal Law, the commission also reminded law enforcemen­t department­s to fully consider a newly revised Company Law to ensure the unity of the two laws.

The Revision to the Company Law, which was adopted by the NPC Standing Committee on Friday and will take effect on July 1, has made provisions for regulating the organizati­on of companies, with stronger protection of shareholde­rs, employees and creditors.

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