Zhu Mingshan, vice-president of the Supreme People's Court said at a national conference that this year the focus will be disciplining those involved in corruption, bribe-taking, embezzlement and bending the law for personal benefits.

He also said that the supervisory bodies in the courts will look closely at cases that have been remanded for retrial, protested by prosecutors or whose judgments have been amended to trace malpractice of judges.

China's courts have been giving top priority to weeding out corruption and guaranteeing judicial fairness in recent years.

There has been an obvious gathering of steam since last year when the court issued regulations that banned the provision of paid legal services to the spouses and children of its leaders and put the stress on stricter implementation of the withdrawal system for judges, which requires that judges must withdraw from a case if he himself or a relative is involved in it in any way.

According to Zhu, the implementation of these regulations will be strengthened this year.

The Supreme People's Court Friday also toughened its ban on judges accepting gifts, saying that judges and leaders of courts must not receive cash, bonds and securities or other gifts from lawyers, parties concerned in cases, entrepreneurs or subordinates in the courts.

Senior judges who have retired or have resigned are not allowed to engage in litigation and commercial activities within the first three years after leaving office, Zhu reiterated.

The leaders of the Supreme People's Court and the local high people's courts will also have to report their wealth, he added.

The court will soon issue conduct codes for its judges and clerks to promote a fairer judicial system, according to Zhu.

At another national conference earlier this week, China's top judge Xiao Yang announced the launching of a new campaign focusing on ethics education and disciplinary action in order to stop corruption among court leaders as well as biased judgments. The new measure is a follow-up of a 1998 nationwide campaign for judicial fairness.

In its latest reforms, the Supreme People's Court has also tried to make the judicial system fairer by separating the different functions within the court system, such as courtroom hearings, supervision, law enforcement, and the assignment of cases for investigation.

(China Daily 01/08/01)