Severely Punish Crimes Committed by Abuse of Trust

A series of surveys has been conducted by the China Economic Prosperity Monitoring Center among 900 inhabitants of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou on prevailing public opinion about crime committed by abuse of positions of trust. Results of the survey showed that 83 percent believe that at present this kind of crime is serious, 10.6 percent are not sure of its level, and 6.4 percent do not believe the situation is at all serious. Within this survey, it was disclosed that a further 41 percent think such crime damages social morale, and 30.3 percent that it jeopardizes economic development. As to the reasons for such crime, 31.9 percent hold flaws in operational mechanisms responsible, and 30.3 percent lay fault at the door of the supervisory mechanism. There are 14.9 percent that think laws are not enforced strictly enough, and 12.3 percent that think ever-growing greed is at the core, while 10.6 percent believe the lack of legal awareness is the root of this phenomenon.

At the end of last year, the Supreme People's Procuratorate instituted key supervision on professionals of nine fields: finance, securities, state-owned enterprises, customs, taxation, construction, the judiciary, industrial and commercial administration, and medicine. The reaction of 80 percent of those participating in the survey was positive, and 74.9 percent were confident that the government will severely punish, and consequently inhibit, crime committed by those abusing positions of trust.