Chief judge Xiao Yang has pledged to keep up the fight
against judicial corruption after the nation's court system rooted
out 292 judges last year because of unethical deeds.
Greater efforts would be made this year to build a "clean court
system", Xiao, president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), said
in an interview with China Daily.
"We must never relax our vigilance on corruption," he said,
after he reported to the National People's Congress in early March
that, last year, 292 judges were subjected to power abuse
investigations, with 109 of them prosecuted.
The number of judges charged with corruption was 378 in 2005 and
461 in 2004.
However, Xiao, who has been SFC president since 1998, said he
had ongoing fears about the "grave situation" of judicial
corruption.
The 69-year-old chief judge said he "lost sleep" because he was
so deeply disturbed by reports of corruption, especially those
involving court officials.
Corruption involving judges, though in small number, damaged the
image of the country's court system and undermined the credibility
of the justice system. "We will continue to be serious in handling
the official corruption cases," he said.
In 2006, two high-level group corruption cases were reported by
the Chinese court system.
The first involved three top judges from Fuyang Intermediate
People's Court in east China's Anhui Province, who were arrested for taking
bribes since 2005. Two of the former judges were sentenced to 9 and
10 years respectively, with the other one still on trial.
The second case involved five senior judges from Shenzhen's
Intermediate People's Court in south China. Three of them were
sentenced to jail terms ranging from 3.5 to 11 years, with the
other two still on trial.
Corrupt judges have disrupted the working of the court system
and sometimes resulted in wrong verdicts, Xiao said.
A "firewall" against corruption will be consolidated, he said,
with the apex court on its way to make four important sets of rules
on fee charges, court discipline, judge discipline, and court
supervision. The first two sets of rules will be implemented this
year, with the other two released for public comment.
Of the new rules to be released, he said, court officials are
barred from using their influence to seek price discounts in any
transactions, to occupy properties under other people's ownership,
to collect or to spend money through gambling, to have personal
investment managers, or to seek benefits for their family
members.
Also, beginning last year, the court introduced an
"anti-corruption deposit" system. If a 22-year-old court staff
member deposits 500 yuan (US$63) every year and does not do
anything illegal, he will get 300,000 yuan (US$37,600) upon
retirement - including his premium and reward.
(China Daily March 24, 2007)