Justice is truly blind for Guangdong bosses

Guangdong officials say they are willing to look the other way if key businesspeople and technical personnel are accused of minor crimes, in an effort to help the province ride out the economic downturn and maintain social stability.

The provincial prosecutors' office announced on Tuesday that to 'guarantee the stable development of the economy', law and order authorities, such as the Public Security Bureau, might not detain or arrest legal representatives of businesses, daily operations chiefs, and technical staff who are suspected of 'general crimes'.

According to a statement posted on its website, the prosecutors' office urged all lower-level branches to follow new guidelines to help businesses in difficulty, saying the goal was to advance Guangdong's economic development.

For example, lower-level prosecutors were not allowed to randomly 'freeze enterprises' bank accounts' or 'publish stories that might affect enterprises' reputations'.

It also said investigations would not be allowed to directly affect the negotiations or work of companies that were involved in large-scale projects.

As one of the provinces hit worst by the global financial crisis, Guangdong has come up with various policies to ease pressure on the business community.

On Sunday, the provincial Communist Party committee's Commission for Discipline Inspection announced that police and prosecutors must not undermine social stability when punishing the heads of state-owned enterprises.