SPP eyes new anti-graft body

China's Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) plans to reform its organizational structure and establish a new anti-graft agency to put more resources into tackling "uniquely serious" corruption cases, a top prosecutor has said.

Qiu Xueqiang, deputy procurator-general of the SPP, said in an interview with the Xinhua News Agency over the weekend that the new General Administration of Anti-Corruption will be better organized and more capable of helping the SPP handle major cases and "break institutional obstacles."

It will be headed by a vice-ministerial level member from the SPP procuratorial committee, Qiu said.

"After nearly two decades of development, [the original General Administration of Anti-Corruption] has seen some problems affecting its efficiency, especially the unreasonable structure of the agency, dispersed distribution of resources, insufficient staff, improper coordination, and outdated equipment," Qiu said. He added that the old agency cannot meet the demands of the current anti-graft campaign and reform is desperately needed.

Although Qiu did not explain the exact steps the SPP plans to take to "break institutional obstacles," a prosecutor reached by the Global Times said that the old anti-graft agency and the bureau tasked with investigating dereliction of duty and infringement of rights under the SPP are likely to be merged to form the new bureau.

"The functions of the two agencies often overlap as many corrupt officials also neglect their duties and thus fall under jurisdiction of both bureaus," He Wenkai, deputy procurator-general of the Fangchenggang People's Procuratorate in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, told the Global Times.

"Another problem was that the old General Administration of Anti-Corruption often failed to effectively use resources from its local branches … In recent years, the SPP and local prosecutors began to acknowledge the importance of an investigation command center. The current reform is a natural result of many years of work," He said.

Established in 1995, the General Administration of Anti-Corruption under the SPP borrowed experience from Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption and is in charge of investigating officials who are involved in bribe-taking and embezzlement.

Since its establishment, the agency has investigated many major corruption cases, including the cases of Wang Baosen, former vice-mayor of Beijing, and Chen Liangyu, former secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Shanghai Committee. Both were suspected of corruption. Wang committed suicide before charges were brought, and Chen was sentenced to 18 years in jail.

The SPP reform comes as China continues an anti-graft campaign of unprecedented severity that has toppled top officials such as former security chief Zhou Yongkang and former vice-chairman of China's Central Military Commission Xu Caihou.

"The reform of the General Administration of Anti-Corruption will boost the efficiency of the agency but will not affect the status of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Central Committee of the CPC as the driving force of the anti-graft efforts," Ren Jianming, a professor of public management with Beihang University, told the Global Times.

Investigations into top officials are usually carried out first by the CCDI, which investigates serious violations of Party discipline. Once the CCDI completes its investigation, it transfers all the evidence to prosecutors to file legal charges if it finds an offence has been committed.

"The current model of corruption investigation is based on China's unique political environment … It is hard to imagine that the SPP will take full responsibility in the investigation of a top official such as Zhou Yongkang at the moment, but the new General Administration of Anti-Corruption could be a sign that it will be more active in assisting the CCDI," Ren said.

According to Xu Jinhui, incumbent head of the General Administration of Anti-Corruption, from January to September this year, 27,235 corruption cases have been processed by prosecutors at various levels, a 9.9 percent increase from last year. A total of 35,633 officials have been charged, a rise of 5.6 percent from last year, Xu told a press conference on Friday.

Qiu, the deputy procurator-general of the SPP, also vowed to handle major cases and maintain high pressure against corruption, punishing every corrupt official found guilty to curb the spread of graft.

He added that anti-corruption investigations must unswervingly adhere to the Party's leadership and advance the rule of law.