China’s top prosecutors promise financial crime crackdown is about to ramp up
- Head of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate’s economic crimes office says targets will include insider trading and market manipulation
- Strong rule-of-law guarantees will be provided ‘to serve and safeguard high-quality financial development’
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Zhang Xiaojin, head of the Fourth Procuratorial Office, which is in charge of economic crimes, said efforts would be made to “provide strong rule-of-law guarantees to serve and safeguard high-quality financial development”.
Prosecutors would also target crimes that damaged the order of the capital market and the interests of listed companies, he told the SPP’s affiliated media in the interview that appeared a week before Lunar New Year, which begins on Saturday.
Zhang said the crackdown would “provide strong support for accelerating the construction of a standardised, transparent, open, dynamic and resilient capital market”.
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Crimes in the field of securities and futures “seriously undermine the basis for the operation of the capital market, infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of investors, and endanger economic and financial security”, he said.
According to Zhang, financial fraud, misappropriation of listed companies’ assets, insider trading and market manipulation will all be on prosecutors’ list of targets.
Last year, the Communist Party became the country’s top financial regulator, with the establishment of the Central Financial Commission, as part of Beijing’s emphasis on the need to strengthen supervision of the sector.
President Xi Jinping also stressed the importance of preventing systemic financial risks during a high-level meeting last month at the Central Party School in Beijing, attended by dozens of provincial leaders.
Xi said “financial regulation must have teeth” and pledged further moves against corruption, noting that “in the process of risk management, corruption must be resolutely punished and moral hazard must be strictly prevented”.
At the central finance work conference in late October – the twice-a-decade policymaking gathering presided over by the president – Xi said that preventing and resolving financial risks must be an “eternal theme” for the Chinese government.
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The country must “comprehensively strengthen financial supervision and bring all financial activities under control in accordance with the law”, he said.
The Supreme People’s Procuratorate issued a guideline in December noting its duties in relation to tackling and preventing financial crimes.
China is also dealing with an ailing stock market, prompting Premier Li Qiang to convene a cabinet meeting last month to discuss ways of reviving sentiment and enticing long-term capital to put a floor under plunging share prices.
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“More vigorous and effective measures should be taken to stabilise the market and confidence,” the cabinet agreed, according to a statement released after the meeting.
Vice-Premier He Lifeng last week urged a nationwide teleconference of party officials from all regions to support listed firms, calling them a critical “microeconomic bedrock”.
He said confidence, capital market stability and economic development must be promoted, and stressed the importance of high-quality development in the economy.
