Crime and punishment

The proposed extension of five-year imprisonment to 10 years for the crime of possessing large sums of unaccounted assets is believed to be a response to the long-standing question of the punitive effect of law in deterring corruption.

An amendment to the Criminal Law to this effect is under deliberation at the current session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) and is quite likely to be adopted.

Whether imprisonment for five years is the right penalty for those who are unable - or refuse - to explain the sources of their huge sums of money has remained a controversy in the past 11 years since it was made a criminal offense in the Criminal Law in 1997.