Draft law details sweeping powers of China’s new anti-graft super-ministry
New commission will be able to investigate, interrogate and detain government workers, as well as freeze their assets and seize property
China’s legislature has released the first public draft of a law giving a nascent super-ministry powers to detain, investigate and punish public servants, widening Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature war on graft.
A National Supervisory Commission that combines several anti-graft bodies, set to be launched next year, will spearhead Xi’s campaign and expand its scope beyond the ruling Communist Party to any civil servant.
At last month’s five-yearly party congress, Xi pledged to continue the campaign to root out deep-seated corruption in the party, which has ensnared more than 1.3 million officials.
The public has a deadline of December 5 to comment on the draft, but the largely rubber-stamp legislature did not say when the final law would be implemented.
The new commission will be empowered to investigate, interrogate and detain government workers, as well as freeze their assets and seize property, according to the draft released by the National People’s Congress.
The new law would further centralise the power of anti-graft investigations and apply to bureaucrats, including teachers at government schools and managers at state-owned enterprises.