I have spoken before about the pervasive problem of corruption in China, while the country is sort of strangely ambivalent towards it. Sometimes the country will go all over the place, executing people for corruption, but in most other times, they will simple let it go. You see, this is because their legal system cannot cater for equality. It is only when everybody is treated equally, in a just and fair manner and quickly, only then will crime and corruption fall. Take a look at these three stories from today related to China and crime.
- China complaining about hacking attacks. China has been accused earlier about hacking and electronic spying!, so I guess turnaround is fair play, but China will realise that this is a double edged sword which can cut as well as hack.
- 140,000 Chinese officials voluntarily turn over bribes to higher authorities (who pocket them in turn???)
- Another senior official sentenced to death.
A total of 140,660 Chinese officials have voluntarily turned bribes they have accepted over to higher authorities in past five years, China's disciplinary watchdog said here Saturday.
The bribes, including cash, marketable securities and pay orders, were valued at about 676 million yuan (89.18 million U.S. dollars), according to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Communist Party of China
During this period of time, China has punished 16 ministerial-level or higher officials for "serious corruption" including Chen Liangyu, former Shanghai Party Chief,Zheng Xiaoyu, former head of State Food and Drug Administration and Qiu Xiaohua, former head of the National Bureau of Statistics.
Gan said the regulations were effective since they laid the basis for the government to investigate cases involving violation of party discipline and they also provided an opportunity for those who had made mistakes to make corrections.
Huang Jinjiang, a former bank official in southwest China's Sichuan Province, has given death sentence for accepting bribes, local court sources said on Saturday.
The Ziyang City's People's Court made the first-instance trial on Sept. 5. Huang was also deprived political rights all his life with the confiscation of all his personal assets.
As you can see, the issue arises from the fact that the party is above the law. And punishment is only executed if a lesson has to be taught or the great unwashed herd is too restive.
Laws are created, passed and implemented by the Party. Since power rests with the party, the legal system cannot override it, because when the party is supreme, then a court will never be able to say that a law is illegal by its very "party origin" nature.
Consequently, corruption will never be removed because the very nature of the party led government obviates against that desire. And I did end up a bit bewildered, turning over bribes??? Just what the heck is that?
Quite a long way to go for China, I am afraid, but it will suffer from conceptual issues in its fight against corruption and crime.
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