People and businesses convicted of corruption will be placed on a "black list" under a new system in Zhejiang Province that aims to stem bribery in all sectors.

The system, which has been in use for seven years to track the bribery records of five industries - construction, finance, education, medical service and government procurement - will extend into all the other industries starting today.

The blacklist will only include bribery cases that have been tried in court, local authorities said.

The list, to be managed by prosecutors, will contain the names of people convicted of bribery. Government, industry watchdogs and companies can search the records as a reference tool.

Zhejiang is working with five other provinces in eastern China as well as Shanghai municiplality for the construction of a shared database, which will be operational by the end of this year.

"The move is intended to intimidate bribers by making public their wrongdoings," said Xiu Hangsheng, director of the duty crime prevention department of the People's Procuratorate of Zhejiang.

The establishment of a bribery records inquiry system officially started in China in January 2006, after a trial in the six provinces in eastern China plus Shanghai in the construction industry.

Since then more than 60,000 companies and 48,000 people have been investigated, and 254 companies and 224 people have been punished.

In Zhejiang, six companies and 18 people have been punished by the government for bribes since early this year, said Xiu.

But Wang Zuofu, deputy director of the research center on criminal law at Beijing Law Society, said that the potential impact of the list is limited because only those tried in court will be included. Many more bribery cases are not accepted by the court.

"Bribery cases will only get accepted at the court when the money goes above a certain level, which means the list is not that inclusive," Wang said.

He also questioned the legitimacy of imposing lifelong restrictions on the bribers. "What if the bribers recognize their fault and change for the better? Everyone should be allowed a second chance," he said.

The system does not address what would happen when a foreign or multinational company is involved in bribes in China. The issue has become more prominent with the recent exposure of California-based Control Components Inc (CCI)'s bribery case.

In July, officials at CCI pleaded guilty to a decade-long scheme involving billions of dollars in payoffs to officials and employees of both State-owned and private companies in dozens of countries in order to secure contracts. Several major Chinese companies have been allegedly involved.

"More rules should be made to better guide the behavior of foreign companies in China," Wang said.

(China Daily September 1, 2009)