China’s fight against corruption to zero in on bribers with severe penalties
- Legal changes focus severe punishment on people paying bribes, expand scope to those in charge of private enterprises
- Tougher penalties would target people ‘hunting’ party members and cadres with payoffs, official says
China is moving to close a loophole blamed for allowing people in charge of companies or entities to escape heavy punishment for offering bribes.
An amendment to the country’s Criminal Law introduced by China’s top legislative body would intensify a crackdown on internal corruption in private enterprises by imposing heavier penalties on such individuals.
A draft amendment to the law was submitted to the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee for deliberation on Tuesday.
Shen Chunyao, head of the NPC Standing Committee’s Legislative Affairs Commission, said the changes are designed to address a “serious imbalance” between the number of cases of people accepting bribes versus those who offer bribes.
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“The proportion of bribe-givers not held criminally liable is too high, and the relatively soft punishment for those offering bribes, is not conducive to cutting off the chain of bribery,” Shen was quoted as saying by the official Legal Daily.
