Criminal Law Photo: IC

A draft amendment to the Criminal Law underwent review at the fourth session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC) on Tuesday, with the primary focus to refine the stipulations regarding the crime of offering bribes and corruption by individuals from private firms. 

The new amendment aims to better fight against corruption and further protect the rights of private enterprises in accordance with the law.

In responding to media questions over the draft amendment, Wang Aili, head of the Criminal Law Office of the NPC Standing Committee on legislative affairs, said those engaged in bribery are an important "source of pollution" in the political environment, and must never be condoned. 

From the number of new cases filed in the courts over these years, the ratio between the number of bribery and corruption cases is approximately one third.

In practice, one corruption case typically involves multiple bribes. If we take this into account, the proportion of bribe-givers (individuals who have not been held criminally responsible) will be higher, Wang said, noting that such leniency toward not prosecuting bribery cases is detrimental to breaking the causal chain of bribery-related crimes. 

The draft amendment submitted for initial deliberation  mainly aims to further clarify and strengthen punishment in legislation, according to Wang. It includes adding a provision to the regulations on the crime of bribery. This provision will enable severe punishment for behaviors such as repeated bribery, bribery of multiple people, bribery of state staff, and bribery in important national tasks and key projects.

The new drafted law also includes structure for providing better legal protection of private enterprises in accordance with the law.

Specifically, within the proposed  round of amendments to the criminal law, the provisions related to corruption by internal personnel of private enterprises have been improved. The focus is on addressing the actions of key personnel within enterprises who engage in corruption and thereby harm the interests of the enterprise and its entrepreneurs.

In recent years, corruption orchestrated by individuals from private enterprises has occurred frequently, mainly manifested in forms of embezzlement, misappropriation, bribery, and breach of trust. Among them, breach of trust was more concentrated, and the most prominent ones were illegal operation of similar businesses and illegal profit-making for relatives and friends, according to Wang. 

At the same time, the internal governance of these private enterprises is not standardized and lacks effective supervision, and that there is an urgent need to strengthen the governance response in this regard, Wang said. 

The new amendment to the criminal law introduces new offenses aimed at deliberate breaches of trust by individuals within private enterprises, causing harm to the interests of the company. 

This revision is expected to further increase the protection of private enterprises' property, provides legal means for private enterprises to effectively prevent and punish internal corruption crimes, and actively respond to the concerns of entrepreneurs, Wang said.