Drunken driving verdict 'kept secret'

An official in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, has become the focus of public opprobrium for driving drunk with apparent impunity.

Mo Wangsong, deputy director of the united front department of Pingdi subdistrict administrative office in the city's Longgang district, was stopped at night on Nov 30, 2011, by traffic police who found he was driving with alcohol concentrations of 176.3 mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, twice the permitted amount, China Youth Daily reported.

Earlier this year, Longgang District People's Procuratorate sued Mo at Longgang District People's Court, demanding he be jailed for two months.

The court said the defendant only drove a short distance while drunk, according to China Youth Daily, which added the verdict was kept secret.

He Bing, professor and associate dean of the law school at China University of Political Science and Law, said:"It was a very simple drunken driving case without any State secret, personal privacy and trade secrets. The court had no reason to refuse reveal the verdict of the case," He said.

Wang Yuehan, an expert in traffic safety law and a lawyer with Shanghai Baiyue law firm, said there was no uniform standard to explain what kind of drunken circumstances were slight, but "driving over a short distance" should not be considered in the judgment of Mo.

China's Criminal Law stipulates that those who drive under the influence will be detained and fined and Guangdong's provincial traffic safety bill stipulates that civil servants who drive while drunk will be fired.

Now public forums are questioning why Mo seems to have escaped punishment.