Runaway officials to be tried in absentia

China's top judicial authorities have stepped up efforts to hunt down suspected corrupt officials who have fled overseas and will lay the groundwork to have these suspects tried in absentia to retrieve the assets they have hidden.

The Supreme People's Court (SPC) and Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPC) on Thursday delivered their work reports to the top legislature, and vowed to maintain a high-pressure anti-corruption campaign and to safeguard justice.[Special coverage]

Analysts believe that the emphasis on anti-corruption in the annual judicial work reports demonstrates China's resolve to strengthen its legal basis in the arduous path to institutionalize the anti-graft drive.

Both the SPP and SPC were involved in the hunt for corrupt officials who had fled to other countries.

Some 49 corruption suspects, who had fled to 17 countries, were either captured or were persuaded to turn themselves in last year.

Chief justice Zhou Qiang of the SPC said Thursday that judicial authorities have been working on a judicial interpretation to have corrupt officials tried in absentia to retrieve overseas assets.

Ren Jianming, an anti-corruption expert at Beihang University in Beijing, told the Global Times that such a judicial interpretation could be effective in blocking the financial chains of those officials, which may in turn force them to return to China as they will be cut off from their funds.

Bi Yuqian, a law professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, added that it will also help authorities to retrieve illegally-gained wealth even if they have been transferred overseas.

The revised Criminal Procedure Law, which came into effect in 2013, allows trials of corrupt officials with suspects in absentia one year after they were listed as wanted.

"The law is still unclear over trial procedures for suspects in absentia which makes some prosecutors unwilling to use such a charge. It urges the legislature and judicial organs to improve legislation," Ren said.

Cao Jianming, procurator-general of the SPP, in his report to the National People's Congress (NPC), said that in the fight against high-profile corruption suspects, prosecutors investigated 28 officials at the provincial or ministerial level and higher for corruption last year, a sharp rise from eight in 2013.

The 28 officials included Zhou Yongkang, a former member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, and Xu Caihou, former vice chairman of the Central Military Commission.

The work report of the SPC showed that Chinese courts in 2014 convicted and punished 44,000 criminals in 31,000 cases of embezzlement and bribery, including severe cases such as Liu Tienan, former deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, and Li Daqiu, a former senior political advisor in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

"The work reports highlight authorities' determination to strengthen the institutional improvement to enhance the anti-graft campaign," Li Zelin, a Heilongjiang-based lawyer and an NPC deputy, told the Global Times.

Meanwhile, a total of 1,937 judges and court staff have been punished for violating laws and regulations in 2014, which is 172.8 percent more than the previous year, the SPC's report noted.

Zhou warned of weaknesses within the court system, and said that bureaucracy and extravagance still exist and some judges are involved in corruption.

"The anti-graft campaign in the judicial system will be normalized since only a clean judicial system can safeguard justice and enforce judicial punishment, which is fundamental to promoting the anti-graft campaign," Ren said.

In a high-profile case, Zhang Hai, former board chairman of a Chinese beverage giant, bribed judicial officials and prison officers to have his sentence cut by five years. Zhang was initially sentenced to 15 years in 2007 for misappropriation of corporate funds.

Wang Gongyi, a law expert and former director of a research institute under the Ministry of Justice, said trials and investigations in line with the law are crucial to curbing graft while protecting suspects' rights.

"Without harsher punishment and fair trials for offenders, graft cannot be curbed effectively and justice credibility will be hurt," Wang told the Global Times.

Li, the Heilongjiang-based lawyer, said that the improved performance of the judiciary systems could boost public confidence.

"Disciplined judicial organs are crucial to realizing the rule of law," Li told the Global Times.

Judicial authorities would also strengthen the fight against and prevention of duty-related crimes and commercial bribery in fields including the food and drug administration, environmental protection, work safety, land sales, exploitation of mining resources and reforms of State-owned enterprises.