Teachers and students from the Beijing Foreign Studies University School of Law participate in a lecture delivered by Li Ping, a prosecutor with the Civil Procuratorial Department of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, on May 8 (COURTESY PHOTO)

Target: To obtain the most useful knowledge on how to prevent fraudulent litigation in the shortest possible time.

Task initiator: Li Ping, a procurator with the Civil Procuratorial Department of the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP).

Audience: Teachers and students from the School of Law, Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU).

This was the introduction to a lecture at BFSU on May 8. During the event, Li introduced the definition of fraudulent litigation and, through vivid and understandable case studies, detailed the harm it causes, as well as the importance of combating it and upholding judicial fairness.

The lecture is a recent example of the SPP's efforts to increase its support for university law schools and provide high-quality legal teaching resources. Since October 2023, it has organized 60 such lectures, attracting the participation of more than 7,000 college students nationwide.

The SPP is the highest procuratorial organ of China. The procuratorial system is a branch of the judicial system with responsibilities including supervision of law enforcement and public prosecution in criminal cases.

Sharing practices 

Fraudulent litigation refers to individuals or entities using means such as forging evidence or making false statements to initiate civil litigation, thereby undermining judicial order or seriously infringing on the legitimate rights and interests of others, Li explained during the lecture.

Common scenarios include collusion between spouses to fabricate joint debts, and collusion with others to fabricate debt relationships and agreements involving material assets, she added.

In one case, a person who controlled multiple companies assisted one of his companies in evading debts through fraudulent litigation. He first fabricated loan contracts for a large sum of money with the targeted business as debtor and then used one of his companies to sue the indebted firm for the unpaid debts. After the court completed the case filing and mediation, he subsequently used the execution process to transfer substantial assets.

According to a white paper on civil prosecution work issued by the SPP on March 9, fraudulent litigation cases are diverse in type and can have serious social consequences. They often involve private lending, divorce property division, company division or merger, bankruptcy, labor disputes, intellectual property protection or insurance.

Some cases, such as those involving social security and medical insurance, or funds for rural development and housing, involve the embezzlement of substantial state-owned and public funds, disrupt economic and social order, and even harm processes such as arbitration and notarization, seriously undermining the country's legal order, it said.

The SPP has launched a campaign targeting fraudulent litigation, and procuratorates in several regions have proposed measures to address loopholes in litigation.

Wang Wenhua, Director of the Academic Committee of the BFSU School of Law, told Beijing Review that Li's lecture helped teachers and students gain a better understanding of the progress made by China's procuratorial organs in their supervision of law enforcement in conducting prosecution of civil cases, as well as the results achieved concerning the prevention and control of fraudulent litigation.

"It was also helpful in alerting everyone present to the possibility of being involved in such cases, and encouraging our students to further study the issues Li raised," she added.

On October 25, 2023, a lecture on the role of procuratorial organs in China's fight against corruption was delivered by an SPP procurator at Renmin University of China (RUC).

Chen Xuan, a professor at RUC Law School, told the Procuratorate Daily, an SPP publication, that procuratorial organs play an important role in combating graft, especially in investigating bribery cases, pursuing fugitives and retrieving stolen assets."

"The lecture helped me acquire a deeper understanding of our country's ongoing anti-corruption campaign, and provides valuable reference for my studies of the rule of law in China," he added.

Talent cultivation 

"It is a great encouragement for us that seasoned experts in the procuratorial system share their expertise in the classrooms of universities," Liu Jihua, another professor and doctoral supervisor at RUC Law School, said.

The SPP has provided a "menu" of courses for universities to choose from and will make the courses a routine part of exchanges between their procurators and universities. According to Han Qiang, Vice President of East China University of Political Science and Law, this "helps law students broaden their horizons from the perspective of procurators and make up for the deficiency of practical training of those students."

"The lectures provide us with valuable chances to understand the implementation of the rule of law in China, Cao Jiahan, a postgraduate student from RUC Law School, told Procuratorate Daily. "In the upcoming lectures, I want to gain more insight into the latest progress in procuratorial work and I look forward to lecturers sharing their own stories of fulfilling their duties, which can provide some guidance for my future career planning."

"The procurators share with us their first-hand experiences in procuratorial field with thoughtfulness and theoretical depth," said Xiao Baoxing, Assistant to the Dean of the Postgraduate School of China University of Political Science and Law, which also hosted lectures by SPP procurators. "They not only show the demeanor of procurators, but also provide role models for law students to establish their career ideals."

"The procuratorate-university partnership is another major step forward for the procuratorial organs in contributing to the cultivation of legal professionals," Hu Ming, Dean of the Guanghua Law School at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, said. Last year, the school also collaborated with local procuratorial organs to compile textbooks for students.

According to the SPP Political Department, the SPP will continue to carry out this program and, based on feedback from teachers and students, make every class and lecture in college campuses high-quality and effective. The SPP Political Department is responsible for the team building of the procuratorial system, conducts political and theoretical work related to the role of procuratorates and advances the development of procuratorial personnel.

The department also organizes exchange and cooperation between procuratorates and schools, including inviting law school teachers to participate in procuratorial work, so as to boost partnership between the procuratorial organs and legal research institutions including law schools of universities.

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