China bribery database sees heavy use, prompting tighter rules

Click image for detailsChina’s national database of bribery offenders was put to good use in its first year, according to new statistics from the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP).
 
In February 2013 alone, procuratorates across the country processed 31,183 inquiries involving 47,286 entities and 56,645 individuals, the SPP said.
 
Of these, 165 entities and 1,888 individuals were found to be listed in the database.
 
Introduced in February 2012, the database pools information from provincial-level procuratorates about those found guilty of giving or facilitating bribes, but does not cover bribe recipients.
 
According to the SPP, the number of database inquiries fielded increased twelve-fold between 2009 and 2011.
 
The SPP has also issued new regulations aimed at codifying the reasons for which companies and individuals can legitimately query the database. The amended regulations provide official approval for entities and individuals to use the database to vet potential employees, potential loanees, and bidders for contracts.
 
Recently, two employees at a Beijing company were arrested for creating a fake “letter of bribery query results” resembling those issued by local procuratorates.

Sources: Sohu (搜狐), People’s Daily Online (人民网), Lexology

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A version of this post appeared in the China Compliance Digest. For a limited time, subscribers to China Compliance Digest will receive the China Anti-Corruption Handbook (normally $750) and an ethiXbase membership (normally $695) at no extra charge. Details are here.