A Chinese procurator has recommended amending Chinese bribery laws to include sex services and overseas studies, in an effort in better implement the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC).

 

Jiang Wei, procurator of northeast China's Heilongjiang province, said that non-property benefits such as free labor, overseas tours, overseas study and sex services can all be forms of illicit inducement.

 

According to Chinese criminal law, bribes take the form of cash or property, to the exclusion of other benefits.

 

"In fact, property or non-property benefits can all be turned into property or cash," Jiang wrote in an article published in the Procuratorial Daily.

 

Extending the definition of bribery will help fight corrupt officials who take advantage of their job to obtain other types of benefit, Jiang said.

 

The UNCAC defines bribery as "an undue advantage" for "the official himself or herself or another person or entity, in order that the official act or refrain from acting in the exercise of his or her official duties".

 

Chinese law states that a person who takes a bribe is one who seeks a benefit -- and to a certain degree an immoral benefit -- for others.

 

"This has proved a disadvantage in fighting corruption," Jiang said. "Some people deliberately separate the time and location of the bribe from the time and location of the the benefit, which has made it difficult for judiciary departments to judge 'grey areas' and deal with criminal evasion."

 

Wang Jianming, director of the Bureau against Graft and Bribery under the Supreme People's Procuratorate, said at the International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities' (IAACA) first annual conference which concluded Wednesday, that power, telecommunications, public service, communications, education and financial sectors have become a hotbed for corruption.

 

A quarter of 2005's bribery cases occurred in these sectors, according to the bureau.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 28, 2006)