China issues highly critical human rights report on US -- citing police violence, mass spying, torture

Section 4. Corruption and Lack of Transparency in GovernmentShare Although officials face criminal penalties for corruption, the government did not implement the law consistently or transparently. Corruption remained rampant, and many cases of corruption involved areas heavily regulated by the government, such as land-usage rights, real estate, mining, and infrastructure development, which were susceptible to fraud, bribery, and kickbacks. Court judgments often could not be enforced against powerful special entities, including government departments, state-owned enterprises, military personnel, and some members of the CCP.

While corruption remained a serious problem, the government clearly recognized the depth of the problem.

In January the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), the CCP’s leading body for countering corruption among members, reported that in 2013 it had received more than 1.95 million allegations of corruption, investigated 172,532 corruption-related cases, and disciplined 182,038 officials, 13.3 percent more than in 2012. Among those investigated, 33 senior officials at the vice-ministerial level or above in the CCP, government, and state-owned enterprises were eventually removed from their posts. In addition, 30,420 officials were punished for violating one or more of the “eight rules” that serve as the mandate for the anticorruption campaign. The “shuanggui system”--the CCP internal disciplinary system used to investigate party members suspected of corruption--remained highly opaque with regard to its operating procedures and adherence to domestic laws and international human rights obligations. “Shuanggui” continued to function without independent oversight and was plagued by allegations of torture.

On July 25, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate reported that prosecutors nationwide had investigated more than 25,000 individuals for bribery and embezzlement in the first six months of the year. There were 16,000 “major cases”--bribery cases exceeding RMB50,000 ($8,160) and embezzlement cases exceeding RMB100,000 ($16,320)--13.7 percent more than the corresponding period in 2012. Also during the first six months of the year, 320 officials who had fled abroad with illicit funds were apprehended and returned to China.

In December 2013 the CCP Central Committee unveiled a five-year plan to punish and prevent corruption. On December 26, the CCDI reported it had punished 25,855 individuals for breaches to antibureaucracy and formalism rules during 2013, including 6,247 CCP officials.

The law makes citizens and companies paying bribes to foreign government officials and officials of international public organizations subject to criminal punishments of up to 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine.

The government’s “frugal working style” rule bars government officials from spending public money on luxury items such as lavish banquets and luxury cars and from accepting expensive gifts. Officials are banned from using public money to send mooncakes as gifts; serving dishes containing shark fin, bird nests, and wild animal products at official banquets; and chartering planes or flying in private or corporate jets overseas.

In 2012 the Supreme People’s Court urged local courts to ban family members of officials and judges from being lawyers under the local court’s jurisdiction. Also in 2012 the Higher People’s Court of Fujian Province forbade judges from meeting privately with representatives in a case.

Also in 2012, in an attempt to curb corruption in the judicial system, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate announced the availability of a national bribery database listing individuals and companies found guilty of certain offenses, including bribing an individual or entity, and facilitating bribery. Companies and individuals must apply in writing to have the procuratorate check nationwide to determine whether a particular individual or company has been convicted of bribery offenses.

The government implemented a number of measures to further limit the various lifestyle perks of government officials. In January the CCP issued regulations making “naked officials”--those with spouses or children who are permanent residents outside of the country or who hold foreign citizenship--ineligible for promotion. In June state media announced that 1,066 cadres in Guangdong Province had been designated “naked officials” and that 866 of them had been demoted or forced to resign, while 200 had agreed to bring their families back to China.

On June 7, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced that party members who commit adultery could be removed from their positions and expelled from the CCP.

In July state media announced a new measure to be implemented in the central government and state organs by the end of the year prohibiting the use of government vehicles for officials below the ministerial and department levels.

Corruption: In numerous cases, public officials and leaders of state-owned enterprises, who generally hold high CCP ranks, were investigated for corruption. In March, Procurator-General Cao Jianming reported to the 12th National People’s Congress that in 2013 the government investigated 2,871 public servants above the county level for corruption, including eight at the provincial and ministerial levels, in 2,581 cases of graft, bribery, and embezzlement of public funds involving more than RMB one million ($163,000). While the tightly controlled state media apparatus publicized--albeit to a limited extent--some notable corruption investigations, as a general matter there were very few details regarding the process by which party and government officials were investigated for corruption.

In June state media reported the CCP expelled retired Peoples’ Liberation Army general and former vice chairman of the central military commission Xu Caihou for accepting bribes and using his office to provide help for others in promotions.

On July 29, state media announced the CCP’s Central Committee placed former politburo standing committee member Zhou Yongkang under investigation for suspected “serious disciplinary violation.” On December 6, the official news agency Xinhua News Agency announced that Zhou had been expelled from the Communist Party and could be tried for crimes including taking bribes, adultery, and losing state secrets.

Notable organizations that worked to address official corruption included the CCDI, Ministry of Supervision, National Auditing Office, National Bureau of Corruption Prevention, International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities, and Anti-Corruption and Governance Research Center at Tsinghua University.

Financial Disclosure: A 2010 regulation requires officials in government agencies or state-owned enterprises at the county level or above to report their ownership of property, including that in their spouse’s or children’s names, as well as their families’ investments in financial assets and enterprises. According to article 23 of the regulations, the monitoring bodies are the CCDI, the Organization Department of the CCP, and the Ministry of Supervision. The regulations do not require that declarations be made public. Instead, they are to go to a higher administrative level and a human resource department. Punishments for not declaring information vary from education on the regulations, warning talks, and adjusting one’s work position to being relieved of one’s position. Regulations further state that officials should report all income, including allowances, subsidies, and bonuses as well as income from other jobs such as giving lectures, writing, consulting, reviewing articles, painting, and calligraphy. Officials, their spouses, and the children who live with them also should report their real estate properties and financial investments. Government officials should report their marriage status and whether their spouses are from Hong Kong, Taiwan, or a foreign country; records of private travel abroad; and the marriage status of their children. They must report whether their children live abroad as well as the work status of their children and grandchildren (including those who live abroad). Officials are required to file reports annually and must report changes of personal status within 30 days.

In March an official with the CCDI stated that the commission planned to institute a pilot project to require newly promoted officials to publicize personal financial information, including their families’ assets and their spouses’ and children’s jobs, incomes, and entry and exit records. By year’s end the CCDI had not provided a detailed timeline for the implementation of the pilot project, although some areas continued to experiment in financial disclosure requirements for public officials. According to a domestic media report, authorities in Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province, experimented with having 100 newly enlisted junior cadres from the disciplinary inspection agency disclose their assets on a public website.

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