China’s new graft-busters will have the power of interrogation
Pilot programmes to also have authority to seize assets, taking over from courts and prosecutors
A series of new committees set up to crack down on corruption will have interrogation and asset-seizure powers that are normally reserved for prosecutors and courts, according to a new directive from the top legislature.
The committees – launched last month in pilot programmes in Beijing and Shanxi and Zhejiang provinces – had the power to question suspected corrupt officials, the directive from the National People’s Congress Standing Committee said. They could also search for, freeze and seal assets in those administrative areas, Xinhua reported on Sunday.
The committees integrate various governmental forces fighting corruption, according to a directive issued in November.
Members of the committees would be elected by – and answerable to – local legislatures, which technically places them on the same level of the government’s executive branch, as well as the courts and prosecutors’ offices. The committees would be rolled out nationwide, based on the results of the pilot programmes, the directive said.
The creation of the committees comes after years of questionable practices by the Communist Party’s internal anticorruption force, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).
Lawyers argue that the CCDI’s detention and interrogation of suspected officials, known as shuanggui, lacks support from the law, which grants such rights only to police and prosecutors.