China put on record and dealt with 1,517 court staff for violating laws and discipline in the first 11 months of last year, Zhu Mingshan, vice president of the Supreme People's Court, said Saturday.
Of the total, 906 were given Party and administrative disciplinary punishments, and 29 were prosecuted for involvement in crimes, he said, noting that 82 of the violators were at and above the section-chief level.
Disciplinary and supervision departments inside the courts have focused on what he called "major and important" corruption cases committed by judges and court officials, relating to abuse of power, intentional mistakes in judgment, forging court papers, and taking bribes or appropriations, according to the senior judge.
In an effort to curb corruption from the top down, the Supreme Court issued codes last November regulating spouses and children of leading court officials from involvement in the legal profession or commercial activities. Leading court officials in the Supreme Court whose spouse or children are lawyers or engaged in commercial businesses have been registered and put on record.
Cars, computers and other expensive commodities for private use at the public's expense have been returned. Across the country, court officials handed back 197 cars last year that they "borrowed " from the courts or parties involved in litigation.
A challenge system had been installed by the end of last year to keep the court staff from handling cases relating to relatives. According to the new rule, 6,759 judges nationwide put forward a petition to avoid cases that related to their personal interests.
However, Zhu said that "corrupt practices still exist in courts, and they are very serious in some places," which severely tarnishes the reputation of the courts and judges, as well as the image of the Party and the state.
"We must fully recognize the difficulties ahead and take forceful measures," he said.
In the year of 2001, he said that the fight against corruption inside the courts will continue to focus on cases relating to leading officials and on judges who abuse power for personal interests.
"Court leaders will be held responsible if he fails to investigate corruption cases inside his court or give too lenient a punishment for fear of losing face," he said.
He also detailed plans on improving management rules and installing internal checks to prevent corruption and ensure fair justice.
(Xinhua 01/06/2001)
