China considers special action against corruption
(people.com.cn)
Updated: 2004-06-16 10:19

Five years have elapsed since the establishment of the subject research group "Countermeasure research on punishment and prevention of corruption in China in the new millennium", a plan of the national social sciences.

As jointly organized by the Organizing Committee and the Disciplinary Committee of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China the subject research group has scored a series of breakthroughs in the research on the specific features of all kinds of corruption at the present-day China and countermoves to deal with them.

From the setting up of estate tax, gift tax and using "real name for bank deposits" and making healthy the "application system of family assets to the improvement and making healthy the relevant laws as regards how to prevent funds from fleeing the country as well as the establishment of the special audit system, what the subject group has been doing so far is all for providing a "fundamental solution to the problem" of corruption.

And the issuance of "special decision" with the opening of a national account number for surrendering ill-gotten gains at its core and the adoption of relevant measures which have been practiced in curing the diseases rather than symptoms, and to use in a combined way the policy and system forces to crack down on and curb the proliferation of corruption are the results and merits that the subject group has been doing and accumulating all these years, a wise counsel worked ingeniously out by the group for dealing with corruptive cases. It is called "anti-corruption special action".

To cancel or do away with all at once the "non-performed" accounts without taking them into account which appeared ever since the reform and opening up is neither practicable politically, legally nor is it workable in the minds of the people. However, if we keep on using the existing pressed measures it's also very difficult to solve the problem and score any good result as it has an extensive area with many people to deal with.

And so it is necessary to come out from the routine and conventional way of thinking and seek for some measures more practical and effective in the anti-corruption campaign Therefore, the subject group puts forward a suggestion that the NPC, the Central Disciplinary Commission of the CPC, the Supreme Court and the Supreme Procuratorate and the Ministry of Supervision to take up a "Special Action", namely "One, two, three project".

1. To open in public a national account number for surrendering ill-gotten gains through which any bribe-takers may surrender their ill-got gains through any state-owned commercial bank at or above county level without leaving their names (or to do it by their relatives instead of them) and they only have to fill in a triplicate "special fund hand-in form" such items as: the time of hand-in, the amount and where they've got the money from, not necessary to fill in anything concerning themselves.

2. To carry out two special decisions: One is that no matter how high or low their ranks, big or small amount of the bribes taken, they will not be questioned or punished with their treatment remaining unchanged if they surrender fully their ill-gotten gains within the timeframe as set. The other is if persons concerned refuse to surrender their ill-gotten gains in full within the timeframe as scheduled they shall be subject to the deprivation of their Party membership and being removed from their working post, i.e. to be handled according to the maximum penalty if discovered violating the law.

3. To adopt three interrelated measures: One is that on the basis of using real name for bank deposits it is to improve and perfect the application and registration system of personal properties for the state functionaries. The second is to raise their salary to make them incorruptible with their own pays. And the third is to establish a healthy offense-reporting system with the highest award to be at 50 percent of the returned ill-gotten gains.

As regards the "special action", the first is to quickly digest the "non-performed accounts" incurred by the corruption, so as to save a great number of cadres falling into trouble. The second is to gather in a great amount of funds for national construction so as to bring up the economy; and the third is to curb the outward proliferation of corruption. It is in this way to help create important conditions for curing the disease inwardly. Many experts, leading cadres and the masses of people give a high appreciation to the "Special Action".

Some experts are of the opinion that the "Special Action" has made a breakthrough in the former set mode of thinking, i.e. to punish seriously the violators, and solved the "accumulated corruption cases" of many years with a "quiet and stealthy revolution".

Dr Sun Changjun, associate dean of the Institute of Law of Hunan University holds, in accordance of the existing laws and rules in China, to carry out the "Anti-corruption Special Action" is still short of legal guarantee and there exist some conflicts with the prevailing legal system. However, in a situation in which the corruptive phenomena are getting rampant with each passing day, which has greatly endangered the future of the Party and the state it is necessary for the anti-corruption action to break away from the conventional rules in order to solve the problem.