The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, on 26 October 2018, passed the revised PRC Criminal Procedure Law (CPL), which introduces, among other matters, the “default judgment” and “immediate judgment” strategies in crook trials.
The default judgment manner penalizes defendants who have absconded overseas regarding bribery and corruption offenses and activities that severely endanger national safety (e.g., terrorist sports). The instantaneous judgment manner expedites the prosecution of defendants who plead responsibly and receive penalty proposals. These are full-size traits that beautify anti-bribery enforcement with the aid of the Chinese government and impose more deterrence to bribery and corruption offenses. They also echo worldwide anti-corruption trends and mirror the non-stop escalation of China’s anti-corruption marketing campaign.
What does it approach for agencies in China? Tracking down corrupt officials who’ve escaped overseas is a crucial aspect of China’s modern anti-corruption enforcement regime. The new default judgment procedure presents an extra powerful way for Chinese enforcement bodies to pursue and recover unlawful gains from such bribe recipients.
Although the number one cause of the CPL reform is to bolster the authorities’ fight against legitimate bribery, the new processes will probably apply to all suspects worried about corruption and bribery-associated crimes under PRC law, regardless of their nationality and even if they’re out of doors of China at the time of prosecution. Companies and employees doing commercial enterprise in China need to stay vigilant as they could still be implicated if involved in bribery-associated activities. For example, the PRC government might also find out assets of alleged bribes and the identification of bribe givers throughout investigations in opposition to authorities officers or state-owned organizations. Such information will also be disclosed in the court docket at some stage in the relevant default judgment hearing. This might also have serious effects on companies and their employees.
Meanwhile, the immediate judgment technique expedites the prosecution method. This reflects efforts by the Chinese authorities in facilitating litigation performance as a part of the ongoing judicial machine reform in China. We expect to see a wide variety of fast trials for straightforward corruption and bribery cases.
The revised CPL also codifies leniency regulations in criminal cases and affirms the prevailing quasi-plea bargaining exercise. This needs to encourage persons or companies to cooperate in government investigations or voluntarily confess in exchange for lesser prices or the possibility of non-prosecution. Under the modern enforcement surroundings, organizations doing commercial enterprise in China should regularly display employee compliance with anti-bribery and corruption rules and tactics and conduct credible and well-timed investigations if wrongdoing is suspected. This will allow a company to correctly compare and mitigate potential risk exposures and facilitate opportunities to seek leniency.
