China Deals Heavy Blow to Malfeasance

Wei Jianxing Attends Symposium to Mark International Labor Day

China's prosecutors have vowed to deal a heavy blow to officials and government employees found guilty of malfeasance, warning that abuse of power and dereliction of duty could jeopardize state interests.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) and nine central government departments announced Wednesday that they would work together to handle cases of malfeasance and abuse of power.

The government departments which signed an agreement with the SPP included the Ministry of Public Security, the General Administration of Customs, the State Administration of Taxation, and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, all regarded as hotbeds of misconduct in office.

They agreed to promptly transfer to prosecutors information of suspected negligence in their own departments, and to cooperate in investigations.

Meanwhile, prosecutors from across the country who convened here this week pledged that they "would not be soft on malfeasance and infringement of citizens' legal rights, which were committed by government employees" and would intensify investigations.

"Along with accepting bribes, dereliction of duty is a type of corruption which could be even more harmful to the country," said Li Baotang, a senior official with the SPP.

China has taken various measures to prevent malfeasance among government employees. In the Criminal Law which was amended in 1997, the steepest penalty for this crime was increased from five years imprisonment to 15. China's prosecutors handled 76,069 cases of malfeasance of government employees over the past three years, out of which 646 officials involved were investigated or punished.

Some 26,827 cases remain under investigation, with the suspects accused of abuse of power or infringing on citizens' personal or civic rights.

Due to prosecutors' efforts to handle malpractice cases in state-owned enterprises, direct economic losses totaling 1.45 billion yuan (US$175 million) have been prevented over the past three years.

However, China's top prosecutor warned that the situation has not been noticeably improved.

"Grave neglect of duty of some government employees has resulted in frequent and horrifying disasters such as collapsed buildings and bridges, and fires and explosions. Rash policy- making by some officials has caused huge losses of state property which threatens the country's economic safety," noted Han Zhubin, procurator-general of the SPP.

"If the problem is left unsolved, the relations between the Party, the government and the general public will be jeopardized, and social stability may be affected," warned Zhao Dengju, deputy procurator-general of the SPP. The SPP has decided that the prosecutors nationwide would focus their investigation and prosecution on four categories involving misuse of administrative power.

The first category involves dereliction of duty and abuse of power by officials above the county level.

Cases involving the practice of favoritism, perverting the law, extorting confessions by torture, and unlawful detention fall into the second category.

The third area includes the misuse of administrative power and irregularities of law enforcement authorities, especially those responsible for economic order and security.

The violation of legal and democratic rights and interests of citizens, especially the illegal custody of delegates to the people's congress, is the fourth classification.

In order to help better inform local prosecutors about malfeasance-related cases, the SPP has encouraged them to report their findings to the media.

In a circular issued recently, the SPP asked prosecutors at all levels to follow news reports about abuse of power to investigate, while establishing ties with journalists to root out more cases.