The authorities are upgrading a public database of commercial graft culprits as part of a crackdown on bribery involving multinational companies (MNC) in China, a top procuratorial official said yesterday.

"The system will provide a basis for relevant departments to prevent bribery and promote the development of China's social credit system," said Wang Zhenchuan, deputy procurator-general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP).

More than 40 percent of the country's corruption cases are thought to involve bribery in MNCs in China and procuratorial departments nationwide have been improving on an archive covering these bribery cases to help nab those responsible, Wang said.

The inquiry system records the names of those involved in such bribery and sentenced by courts nationwide since 1997. It is free and open to the public, Wang said.

The scope of inquiry for public use includes all cases of bribery by an individual or company convicted in areas such as project construction, finance, education, pharmaceuticals, and government procurement in the past decade.

The system is expected to enable related agencies to adopt precautionary measures after looking up the records, when dealing with cases that could involve a high occurrence of bribery, such as tenders and bids for projects, loan inspections and approval, public sector employment and student enrolment.

"We will strictly deal with such practices in line with legal procedures, after investigating and collecting evidence," Wang said.

China will also continue to work with international organizations and learn from other countries' experience to fight corruption, through personnel training and exchange, officials have said.

To that effect, the SPP will cooperate directly with the International Criminal Police Organization and the Sino-US Joint Liaison Group in legal enforcement including judicial assistance, international arrests, repatriation, extradition and the return of assets.

Cases of bribery in its many forms have included foreign companies offering officials luxury tours disguised as business trips, tuition fees for recipients' children to study abroad and opportunities to attend free business courses, officials have said.

Since 2006, the authorities have launched nationwide campaigns against commercial graft to standardize market mechanisms and set up a social credit system.

Mei Xinyu, an expert with the Ministry of Commerce, said more than 60 percent of corruption cases in the country involved international trade.

Officials who take bribes face less risk of being exposed when they deal with MNCs and private enterprises, rather than State-owned ones, as Chinese disciplinary and prosecution departments cannot directly supervise and inspect these enterprises, Mei said.

"China cannot achieve this goal alone," he said.

"The country's current anti-graft measures are unable to deal with well-hidden bribery cases."

(China Daily July 16, 2008)