2nd Ld-Writethru-Xinhua Insight: China clarifies criteria for capital punishment in graft cases

The maximum penalty for convicts found guilty of embezzling or accepting bribes worth 3 million yuan (about 463,000 U.S. dollars) or more in an "extremely serious case" with "extremely vile impact" will be the death penalty, according to a new judicial explanation issued on Monday.

The ruling was jointly issued by the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

A two-year suspended death sentence may be issued if there are mitigating factors, according to the judicial document. In practice, courts tend to be more lenient when sentencing those who have cooperated during the investigation.

In cases where the death penalty is deemed too severe for the crime, convicts may receive a life sentence without commutation or parole, according to the document.

"The ruling follows a general principle of harsh punishment for those found guilty of embezzlement or bribery," said Miao Youshui, a senior judge with the SPC.

China's judiciary have been active in the campaign against corruption over the past three years.

Last year 16 senior officials, including former state leader Zhou Yongkang, were convicted of graft. Prosecutors charged 22 ex-officials of ministerial level or above, while 41 were subject to formal investigations, up from 28 in 2014.

Many corrupt officials received severe sentences. Zhou was sentenced to life imprisonment in last June.

In February 2015, two senior executives of state-owned enterprises in central China's Hunan Province were sentenced to death for accepting bribes of around 200 million yuan.

RAISING THRESHOLD

The ruling is a supplement to the Criminal Law, which was revised in late 2015.

Last year's revision aimed to make the conviction and sentencing of embezzlement and bribery convicts more flexible. It replaced rigid standards, such as the exact amount of money involved, with relative statements, such as "a large amount of money," "a huge amount of money" and "an extremely huge amount of money."

The law gives judicial departments more authority to set precise standards, as it is easier to revise a judicial explanation than amend the law.

The new ruling set the minimum of "a large amount of money" at 30,000 yuan, for "a huge amount of money" the minimum is 200,000 yuan, while for "an extremely huge amount of money" the minimum was set at 3 million yuan.

The 1997 version of the Criminal Law set the minimum standard for criminal prosecution at 5,000 yuan.

Chen Xingliang, with the Law School at Peking University, told Xinhua that the increase should counter currency inflation and income increase seen over the past two decades.

China's per capita gross domestic product (GDP) soared by 6.25 times from 1997 to 2014.

"It is not likely to lead to a notable reduction of graft convicts," Chen said.

The severity of the crimes is to be taken into consideration when sentencing is passed. For example, those who embezzle or accept bribes worth less than 30,000 yuan may face criminal prosecution if their crimes are serious and affect many people.

CLOSING LOOPHOLES

The judicial document also clarified its stance on certain scenarios. If an official learns that a "person of interest," such as a family member or close aide, has accepted bribes but does not return or report it, the official will be considered as complicit in the crime.

"Often we hear officials claiming that they had no knowledge of their family or aides accepting bribes, thus, distancing themselves from the crime," Miao said.

The new document will prevent them from using this excuse and escaping punishment, he said.

Donating dirty money to charity groups or using it for a public cause will not reduce the severity of the crime.

Besides cash and properties, service benefits, such as free club membership and the wiping of debts, will also be considered illegal revenues of graft.

The judicial explanation will take effect upon its announcement. Endi