The Chinese Government's pledge to crack down on corruption took another dramatic step yesterday when a death sentence was handed down in the case of Cheng Kejie, former vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, for taking 41 million yuan in bribes.
If his appeal fails, Cheng, a former provincial governor of Guangxi province, will be the highest ranking party official yet to face the ultimate punishment. This should warn other corrupt cadres that authorities are determined to clean up public life.
But the question is how deep the message will go. Graft has become so much a part of life since the Communist Party relaxed its grip on economic power that no stratum of society is exempt. While people at the bottom of the pile rail against a system that keeps them in poverty, the epidemic at the top continues unabated. Of the country's 55 ministries, 36 are said officially to have siphoned 130 billion yuan from state funds last year.
The pursuit of the guilty is often agonisingly slow and erratic. Several high-ranking officials in Beijing are thought to be implicated in the 80 billion yuan smuggling and bribery racket in Xiamen. But after three years of investigation, it appears those with close links to the leadership could escape justice. The fire in a Shantou guesthouse which killed investigators pursuing the case has been blamed on faulty wiring. However likely that explanation may be, rumours of arson persist.
There are similar doubts about a multi-million yuan graft scandal in Hebei province, where senior leaders are said to have close personal contacts with some of the officials involved. Allegations of cover-ups and obstacles put in the way of investigators damage public confidence in all those pledges that high office will not protect the guilty.
While the press is urged to report on local corruption, journalists who uncover more serious crimes can end up behind bars themselves. That is an occupational hazard under a system in which provincial officials hire the judges in charge. Justice would be better served if Beijing funded the courts so they could act with greater independence.