China's crooks prefer loopholes to prison breaks

Bribery accusations against a tycoon-turned-convict have focused China's collective national attention on loopholes in the judicial system and the dearth of supervision.

Zhang Hai, former chairman of beverage company Jianlibao, was sentenced to 15 years in 2007 when found to have swindled more than 33 million U.S. dollars from company funds. His sentence was reduced from 15 years to 10 years on appeal in 2008. His prison term was then cut by another four years while he was behind bars.

The reduction on appeal came about after Zhang obtained crucial information from other suspects and offered it as his own contribution to the police investigation, according to a statement by Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) on Monday,

While serving his sentence, through outside connections and by arranging to have prison and justice officials bribed, he fabricated documents on his good behavior and claimed two further reductions.

Zhang was released in 2011 and promptly went overseas with his girlfriend Huang Lu. Huang is accused of bribing the officials concerned.

Twenty-four people are being, or have been, investigated for their involvement in Zhang's manipulations: a motley crew from the judiciary and prison service, detention center employees, court officials, lawyers and various others.

Zhang's case might be grabbing the headlines, but he is far from the only crook trying to escape of the embrace of the state through bribery, fabrication and forgery.