New agency to strengthen graft fight

China will set up a new anti-graft authority under the Supreme People's Procuratorate to streamline the campaign to fight corruption, Deputy Procurator-General Qiu Xueqiang said on Monday.

"This new anti-graft organ will allow the Supreme People's Procuratorate to directly investigate national major corruption and bribery cases, such as those involving ministerial or provincial level corrupt officials, and effectively break through some systemic obstacles in handling cases," he said.

In addition, the new agency will play effective roles in directing, organizing and coordinating local prosecuting departments as they tackle important corruption issues, he said.

The new agency will invite a full-time member of the procuratorial committee to serve as head of the anti-graft body, according to Qiu.

Since the new leadership took office in November 2012, President Xi Jinping has conducted a drive against corruption. Xu Caihou, one of China's senior military officers, and Zhou Yongkang, China's former security chief, are among many officials caught up in the anti-graft action.

Qiu said that China established an anti-corruption and bribery bureau under the Supreme People's Procuratorate in 1995, but after 20 years of slow development, and due to poor effectiveness, it struggled to meet the demand for anti-corruption work.

"We will regard this as an opportunity to strive to make a new anti-corruption body into a smart, highly effective and specialized agency that possesses formidable strength, transparency and credibility," according to Qiu.

Cheng Lei, deputy director of the Criminal Procedure and Judicial Reform Research Center of Renmin University of China, said the new body is "conducive for the Supreme People's Procuratorate to focus on big and important corruption issues and prevent local Party leaders and government officials from abusing their power to interfere in corruption cases."

"Moreover, it will improve the supervision mechanism inside the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the prosecutors' handling of corruption cases will become more professional, open and transparent," he said.