1. New law or regulation

State level: No developments

Local level (Beijing & Shanghai): No developments

Communist Party Rules: No developments

2. Upcoming law or regulation

No developments

3. Government Action

(1) On October 10, 2013, Tian Xueren (“Tian”), the former Executive Deputy Governor of Jilin Province, stood trial in Beijing No.1 Intermediate People’s Court for accepting bribes totaling RMB 19.19 million (USD 3.14 million).

Tian was accused of misusing various government positions that he held from 1995 to 2011, and seeking illegal benefits and job promotion from more than ten bribe-givers. Tian was expelled from the China Communist Party and dismissed from his position in July 2012. The verdict in his case has not yet been announced.

(2) It was reported on October 14, 2013 that Liu Huaan (“Liu”), the former Deputy Head of Lujiang County, Anhui Province, was sentenced by the Intermediate People’s Court of Hefei City, Anhui Province to 15 years in prison for taking and soliciting bribes.

During his 12 years in office from 2001, Liu allegedly accepted bribes of RMB 5.78 million (USD 948,099) and USD 20,000, among which RMB 3.36 million (USD 551,144) were solicited by Liu. In return, Liu sought illegal benefits for others in project construction, payments for construction, and the restructuring of enterprises. Liu was given a lighter sentence due to his confession.

(3) On October 15, 2013, Wang Jianshe (“Wang”), a former member of Municipal Standing Committee and Secretary of Committee of Political Science and Law of Huangshan City, Anhui Province, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for accepting bribes. Personal assets worth RMB 600,000 (USD 98,418) were also confiscated by the Intermediate People’s Court of Bengbu City, Anhui Province.

Wang was found guilty of accepting bribes from 56 individuals during his time in office from 1987 to 2012, amounting to RMB 5.06 million (USD 829,996), ERU 5,000 (USD 6,737), HKD 16,600 (USD 2,141), and USD 13,100. In return, he helped the bribe-givers to receive illegal benefits. Wang confessed to his crime and said that he would not appeal.

(4) It was reported on October 19 that Su Jishang (“Su”), the former Chief Editor and President of Xinjiang Economic Daily and Chairman of Xinjiang Xinwen Media Investment (Group) Co., Ltd, was sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Intermediate People’s Court of Urumchi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. He was convicted for embezzlement, bribery and misappropriation of public funds.

Su was accused of embezzling public funds amounting to RMB 3.72 million (USD 610,195) on 6 occasions by means of fabricating reports of bonuses and rewards for employees, using false invoices, and through the misuse of company funds, taking bribes totaling RMB 4.18 million (USD 685,694) on 21 occasions, and misappropriating for his own business operations public funds in an amount exceeding RMB 32.5 million (USD 5.33 million).

(5) On October 25, the Higher People’s Court of Shandong Province rejected the appeal of Bo Xilai (“Bo”), the former member of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau and the former Municipality Party Secretary of Chongqing Municipality of his original sentence to life imprisonment by the Intermediate People’s Court of Jinan City. The higher court also affirmed the facts, the evidence, and the application of law in the first trial resulting in Bo’s conviction for bribery, embezzlement, and abuse of power.

(6) It was reported on October 31 that Wang Shaoping (“Wang”), the former Chief of Jiangxi Agricultural Machinery Bureau, was sentenced by the Intermediate People’s Court of Fuzhou City, Jiangxi Province to 18 years in prison for both taking bribes and abuse of power.

Wang was found to have sought illegal benefits for others in the promotion and marketing of agricultural machinery in Jiangxi Province, subsidies for agricultural machinery, and the settlement of such subsidies in return for bribes from 22 individuals, including RMB 6.86 million (USD 1.12 million), USD 7,000, EUR 8,000 (USD 10,779), shopping vouchers worth RMB 44,000 (USD 7,217), 2 bars of gold and one apartment worth RMB 116,079 (USD 19,040). Wang was also accused of illegally approving unqualified agricultural machinery to enjoy national subsidies, and causing the state’s loss in subsidies for agricultural machinery amounting to RMB 22.03 million (USD 3.61 million). Wang was reported to have received a lighter sentence because of his good attitude in pleading guilty and confessing his crime.

4. Other

(1) On October 22, 2013, Cao Jianming (“Cao”), the Prosecutor General of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (“SPP”), reported to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (“NPC”) regarding the government’s initiative to combat embezzlement and bribery since 2008. According to the report, during the period from January 2008 to August 2013, national prosecutors have investigated 151,350 embezzlement and bribery cases involving 198,781 individuals, among which 167,514 persons were prosecuted and 148, 931 persons were convicted. The amount of property recovered amounted to RMB 37.7 billion (USD 6.06 billion). Cao pointed out that efforts had been made to increase the reporting channels, but that the working mechanisms and capacity of law enforcement by prosecutors continued to need improvement. It is the first time since 1989 for SPP to report to NPC on its anti-embezzlement and anti-bribery work.

(2) On October 23, 2013 the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (“CCDI”) was reported to have dispatched ten teams to conduct inspections in the provinces of Shanxi, Jilin, Anhui, Hunan, Guangdong, and Yunnan, as well as inspections of Xinhua News Agency, the Ministry of Lands and Resources, the Ministry of Commerce, and China Three Gorges Corporation. These were all part of a second round of inspections by CCDI. The first round was completed in September 2013.

(3) On October 31, 2013, CCDI issued a Notice Prohibiting the Purchasing, Printing, or Sending of Items such as Greeting Cards using Public Funds, requiring that all Party and government agencies as well as state-owned enterprises and financial institutions to cease using public funds for such purposes, unless necessary for (a) foreign affairs, (b) Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan-related affairs, or (c) overseas Chinese affairs.

5. China-related FCPA Action

None