China Steps up Efforts to Combat BriberyChina's Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) will severely punish those who offer bribes to their superiors for instant promotion or other illicit gains.At a news briefing Friday, deputy procurator-general Zhao Dengju said that the SPP will oversee the investigation and charging of suspects, officials above the county level in particular, in cases involving bribes worth over 500,000 yuan (US$60,000). The SPP also urged nationwide provincial procurators to focus on those criminal cases concerning huge amounts of money or cases that arouse public indignation, Zhao said. On the SPP's priority list of investigations are those cases including offering bribes to gain benefits through smuggle, counterfeit, and committing tax or foreign currency fraud; offering bribes to Party and government officials or judiciaries, causing huge losses of state property or endangering people's life; and offering bribes to government institutions. "As a dangerous social evil, bribery greatly erodes governmental bodies and the society at large," Zhao said. "Many criminals are now offering officials not only money, expensive home appliances or jewelry, but also stock shares, autos, houses, overseas travels and even sexual service," he added. The number of criminal cases involving bribery that have been investigated and dealt with by China's procuratorates increased from 837 in 1998 to 1,199 this year. The average value of the bribes in each case was 160,000 yuan in 2000, a far cry from that of 80,000 yuan in 1998. |
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