By Xie Chuanjiao (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-12-26 07:03

The presidents of provincial courts and procuratorial bodies will be swapping provinces this year in a bid to curb judiciary corruption, officials said.

The far-reaching reshuffle is expected to last until March, when Chief Justice Xiao Yang and Prosecutor-General Jia Chunwang, who are both 69 years old, will retire.

"We are having the presidents swap provinces in order to curb the possibility of corruption," a spokesman for the Supreme People's Court who refused to be named told China Daily.

"Some other important personnel adjustments are in the pipeline for when the new chief justice takes office."

A dozen new presidents of provincial and municipal high courts have been named in the past month.

Among them, Kang Weiming, the ex-president of Jiangxi high court, was transferred to Hunan, replacing the previous president, Jiang Bixin, who was named a member of the Party committee of the Supreme People's Court (SPC).

And Li Shaoping, the former president of the court in Sichuan, was transferred to Tianjin Municipality.

Zhang Liyong, the former Party secretary of Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province, was named head of Henan's high court, while Zhang Wenxian, former Party secretary of Jilin University, was named president of Jilin's high court.

Many procuratorate presidents were also ordered to swap provinces. Among them, the former vice-president of the Jiangsu high procuratorate was transferred to Guangdong, the ex-vice-president of Yunnan was sent to Gansu and Shanxi's president was sent to Anhui Province.

According to the Judges Law and the Prosecutors Law, the power to elect, appoint and remove the presidents of high courts and high procuratorates lies with the provincial people's congresses.

And nominees to serve as procuratorate presidents must be reported to the National's People's Congress for approval.

The position of president is for vice-ministerial level officials under the management of the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Commission of Politics and Law of the CPC.

Corruption within the judicial system has been a serious problem, causing the downfalls of several top judges and prosecutors in the past five years.