The person in charge of the Criminal Law Department of the Legal Work Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress answered questions from reporters regarding the draft amendment to the Criminal Law (12) | Corruption | Person in charge

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, July 25. On July 25, the Fourth Session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress reviewed the draft amendments to the Criminal Law for the first time. What is the main background of this revision and improvement, and how can we accurately grasp the spirit of the draft revision? Wang Aili, head of the Criminal Law Office of the Law Working Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, answered reporters' questions.

We must have a clear understanding that bribery is still an important reason for the increase in corruption, and that bribery and acceptance are two sides of the same coin. Bribery is an important source of pollution in the political ecology, and bribery cannot be tolerated. Those who refuse to change their ways must be dealt with strictly, and those who repeatedly bribe, pay huge amounts of bribes, bribe multiple people, and harm one party's political ecology must be resolutely investigated and punished.

In practice, there are situations where the punishment for bribery is relatively weak. From relevant data, there is a significant difference in the number of bribery cases investigated and dealt with during the same period. Based on the number of new cases received by courts in the first instance in recent years, the ratio of bribery cases to bribery cases is approximately 1:3, with some years reaching a ratio of 1:4 or higher. In practice, a bribery case usually involves multiple bribe givers. If this situation is considered, the proportion of bribe givers who have not been held criminally responsible will be higher. This situation of being too lenient and not pursuing bribery is not conducive to cutting off the causal chain of bribery crimes. The systematic governance of bribery crimes requires further leveraging the important role of criminal law in promoting the system and mechanism of not daring to be corrupt, not being corrupt, and not wanting to be corrupt. This revision is another major revision to the crime of bribery, based on the amendment to the Criminal Law passed in 2015. It further clarifies the provisions of the Criminal Law and increases criminal accountability for some serious cases of bribery.

Answer: The highest penalty for the crime of bribery is life imprisonment, which reflects severe punishment in the statutory penalty. The draft amendment proposed for initial review this time mainly aims to further clarify and strengthen punishment in legislation, and add a provision in the provisions of bribery crimes: for multiple instances of bribery, bribery to multiple people, bribery to state officials, bribery in important national work, key projects, and major projects, bribery in organizational personnel, disciplinary law enforcement and judiciary, ecological and environmental protection, finance and finance, safety production, food and medicine, assistance and disaster relief, elderly care and social security, education and medical care, and other six types of situations, including bribery for the purpose of committing illegal criminal activities, and using illegal proceeds for bribery, will be punished severely. At the same time, adjust the starting point and level of punishment for the crime of bribery, and connect it with the crime of bribery. In addition, this revision further adjusts and improves the level of punishment for bribery crimes such as unit bribery and unit bribery, and strengthens criminal punishment.

After the initial review of the amendment, we will further revise and improve it based on various opinions. Regarding the crime of bribery, relevant law enforcement and judicial departments should accurately grasp the legislative spirit, strengthen and improve relevant work. While maintaining the high-pressure situation of punishing bribery crimes, we should increase the punishment for bribery behavior, properly grasp the policy scale of investigating and punishing bribery, reverse the concept of some law enforcement personnel who prioritize bribery over bribery, and continuously improve their ability and level of handling cases. For bribery cases that are key to legal investigation, those that need to be filed should be resolutely filed, and those that need to be dealt with should be dealt with resolutely. In general, we should not easily transfer or not be punished, but should strictly grasp them. At the same time, from a societal perspective, we must firmly establish the awareness and consciousness of complying with the Constitution and laws. All citizens, organizations, and enterprises and institutions should establish a sense of rule of law and compliance in social and economic activities. They should not seek illegitimate benefits through bribery or disrupt a fair competition market environment. Bribery will never be worth the loss, and all illegal benefits obtained from bribery will be recovered and corrected. Bribery offenders will be held criminally responsible in accordance with the law, and joint punishment will be imposed in accordance with regulations.

Answer: The Party Central Committee has always attached great importance to the development of private enterprises, emphasizing "two unshakable", "three unchanged" and "two healthy", and requires the protection of the property rights of private enterprises and the rights and interests of entrepreneurs in accordance with the law. The requirement for equal treatment of state-owned enterprises and private enterprises has fallen. Recently, the central government issued the "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Promoting the Development and Growth of the Private Economy", which made new major deployments for promoting the development and growth of the private economy.

This amendment to the Criminal Law aims to improve the criminal provisions related to corruption among personnel within private enterprises, targeting key personnel in internal positions who engage in corrupt behavior that infringes upon the interests of enterprises and entrepreneurs. Some internal personnel in enterprises have a weak awareness of the rule of law, and even mistakenly believe that "taking state property in state-owned enterprises is a crime, and taking the boss's money in private enterprises is not a big deal.". Based on research and understanding, various aspects have reported that in recent years, corruption among internal personnel in private enterprises has been frequent and prone to occur, mainly manifested in embezzlement, misappropriation, bribery, and breach of trust. Among them, the breach of trust is more concentrated and prominent in illegal operation of similar businesses and illegal profit-making for family and friends. At the same time, the internal governance of these private enterprises is not standardized and lacks effective supervision, and there is an urgent need to strengthen the governance response in this regard. Since 2013, there have been 65 proposals, suggestions, and proposals put forward by National People's Congress deputies and members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) regarding the revision of regulations in this regard, many of which are representatives and members from enterprises.

This amendment to the Criminal Law has added crimes related to intentional breach of trust and damage to the interests of private enterprises by internal personnel. The illegal operation of similar businesses by internal personnel of private enterprises, illegal profit for family and friends, low price stock conversion for personal gain, and asset sales have also been designated as crimes. This modification will further increase the protection of private enterprise property, provide legal means for private enterprises to effectively prevent and punish internal corruption crimes, and actively respond to the concerns of entrepreneurs.

Answer: Article 165, Article 166, and Article 169 of the Criminal Law respectively stipulate the crimes of state-owned companies and related personnel of enterprises illegally operating similar businesses, illegally profiting for family and friends, and engaging in favoritism, low price stock conversion, and selling state-owned assets. This revision of the Criminal Law will extend the current crimes applicable to "state-owned companies, enterprises" and other related personnel to private enterprises, and further strengthen the equal protection of private enterprises. It should be said that the above three types of criminal acts have been quite typical in state-owned enterprises in the past, which is determined by the nature and characteristics of state-owned enterprises. Therefore, the current Criminal Law has made criminal provisions for the above-mentioned behaviors of personnel related to state-owned enterprises, and does not apply to private enterprises. In recent years, with the development and changes of private enterprises in China, internal personnel of private enterprises have also continuously engaged in the above-mentioned behaviors, seriously damaging the interests of enterprises. It is necessary to keep up with the times and improve corresponding legal systems to adapt to the practical needs of protecting private enterprises. It should be noted that the above-mentioned crimes constituted by the draft regulations violate the relevant management regulations of the company or enterprise or violate the obligation of loyalty to the company or enterprise on the premise, and have corresponding intentional behavior of "damaging the enterprise and enriching the private". As a result, they cause significant losses to the company or enterprise. Essentially, it is the behavior of internal personnel of the enterprise using their positions to facilitate illegal profit transmission and harm the interests of the enterprise.

This amendment further enriches and improves the criminal law related to the infringement of the property of private enterprises, including the crime of embezzlement, the crime of misappropriation of funds, the crime of accepting bribes by non-state staff, etc., as well as the three types of breach of trust added in the draft. crime. To implement the above-mentioned provisions of the Criminal Law on corruption crimes in private enterprises, and to better promote the corruption governance of private enterprises, we need to pay more attention to the following aspects: First, accurately grasp the policy standards. The development of private enterprises in our country is unbalanced, and the situation is still relatively complicated. Many corporate governance structures and daily management are not standardized, and some are family businesses. The actual situation of the enterprise must be fully considered in case handling. Especially for conflicts and disputes involving shareholders within the enterprise, we must pay attention to grasping the boundaries of crime and the intersection of civil and criminal legal issues, and prevent the use of criminal means to interfere with the normal production and operation activities of the enterprise. Second, the law enforcement of the judiciary to increase the protection of private enterprises. This amendment is an important measure to implement equal protection in the law, and at the same time, equal protection must be implemented in law enforcement and justice. Judging from the reports of some enterprises, in practice, some departments do not pay enough attention to reporting cases by enterprises, and it is difficult for enterprises to file cases. This issue should also be carefully studied. The "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Promoting the Development and Growth of the Private Economy" also stated that "judicial interpretations will be issued to increase the penalties for corruption such as embezzlement, misappropriation of funds, and bribery by private enterprise staff in accordance with the law". The third is to further improve the system and mechanism for preventing and controlling corruption at the source of private enterprises. It is necessary to adhere to the concept of system and comprehensive governance. While giving enterprises criminal law protection means, relevant parties must also guide and support enterprises to establish and improve internal anti-corruption work mechanisms, standardize the operation and supervision of internal personnel power, and establish and improve the audit supervision system and accounting system. Strengthen the construction of corporate integrity culture.