Justice must be seen to be done on mainland

The public may be enthralled by President Xi Jinping's unprecedented crackdown on corruption in high places. But the reaction would soon turn to cynicism if it emerged that officials and business associates tried and found guilty had avoided paying their debt to society. The power of money and connections to pervert justice on the mainland means it cannot be ruled out. Indeed, it already undermines public confidence in the system.

An opaque system for considering applications for reviews of sentences and parole is to blame. It is good that top prosecutors have ordered greater scrutiny to ensure that corrupt officials and law-breaking business executives do not exploit the flaws. At present local courts are supposed to conduct hearings. But a lack of firm guidelines means courts often just issue a written review. As a result connections and money can have a greater say in the outcome. The Supreme People's Procuratorate has now directed that local prosecutors must take part in the process by reviewing all applications by corrupt officials, fraudsters, gangsters and terrorists.

This does not address perhaps the most egregious example of contempt for justice, that of officials sentenced to long terms of imprisonment using connections and money to bribe their way out of serving a single day in jail.

The legal system has a longstanding unwritten rule that payment of "compensation", or returning ill-gotten gains, can secure a lighter sentence in cases of corruption, and also in cases that do not involve the worst crimes such as murder. What it needs are heavy, punitive fines that give the law the financial whip hand against offenders who think justice can be bought off.

That said, it is good to plug the loophole in the system for sentence reductions and parole, but it would inspire more public confidence if hearings were open and the process transparent, taking into account the debt owed to society for the gravity of the crime as well as good behaviour in jail.