By Qu Fangye
Translated by Chen Shuling
Recently, the Intermediate People’s Court of Zhoushan City has sentenced Fu Ping Hong, the head of the Health Center of Gaoting Town, Daishan County, to 11 years imprisonment for the concurrence of embezzlement and bribery, and adjudged him to be confiscated property of Renminbi 50000 Yuan. What’s noticeable is that the public funds of over 440000 yuan for his drinking and pleasure-seeking have been all judged as the sum of graft. (‘People’s Daily’dated Oct. 27) Chinese Version>>
It might be the first time in domestic judicial practice to take public funds for eating and drinking as the sum of graft and adjudge the person to be guilty of embezzlement, which is of great benefit to check public funds for eating and drinking. In the mind of many officials, it dosen’t matter to expend public funds on eating and drinking other than graft and appropriation. Under the mistaken concept, it has become the common practice to consume public funds for eating and drinking. As a matter of fact, this practice has been in violation of law from the beginning and should be rectified earlier by judicial measures.
It is stipulated in Clause 382 of‘Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China’that, the crime of embezzlement means the behaviour that national staff embezzle, steal, swindle or misappropriate public property by other ways with the advantage of their positions. Eating and drinking at public expense, fully in line with the main features of the crime of embezzlement, violates the public property rights objectively and appropriates the public funds by eating, drinking and other ways. Some people consider that consumption is not appropriation. This concept is wrong. How would there be consumption if there is no appropriation? It is naturally appropriation to use public funds directly for personal consumption. Isn’t it taken as appropriation in this way?
Of course, normal official hospitality should be different from eating and drinking at public expense in specific judicial practice. For normal official hospitality, the regulations should be strictly followed with the only purpose of public activities, while no public funds can be used for personal eating and drinking or private benefit. Eating and drinking at public expense is the behaviour that public funds are used to meet individual’s desire or purpose.
The reason why it is very popular to eat and drink at public expense is the imperfection of financial management system. Especially, under the situation of public finance being not open and transparent, some leading members expend public funds for individual’s eating and drinking or private activities. If we say there is only one-third of public vehicle cost used for public activity, then consumption with public funds is about the same. Much ineffective public entertainment simply can not promote public interest, which becomes the grey area for public consumption. Since there is no open and transparent system under public supervision, it exists everywhere to fish in troubled waters by use of public consumption. Large amounts of financial funds are used for dinner tables, and much of the funds for the people’s livelihood have been eaten up by some official departments. That is not rare in the previous reports that detb notes of some local governments dragged the resturants down and caused the tense financial resources even more tense. It has been reported that 300 billion yuan are expended with public funds for dinner tables throughout the country while the travels and vehicles with public funds cost 900 billion yuan. Such astonishing consumption for public affairs is really rare in the world. It is worth questioning that how much of the huge amounts of public expenses for dinner tables are really used for public activities.
So much public funds spent on dinner tables and such a serious practice to eat and drink at public expense is the result of too tolerant law. It is just because on the legal concepts it has never been regarded as a crime to eat and drink at public expense, neither has such behaviors been punished, which leads to be widespread and rampant. That Zhejiang Province judges officials who eat and drink at public expense as embezzlement is sounding the alarm to this wrong opinion and bringing back those eaters and drinkers. At the same time, it’s also hoped that this case would have a butterfly effect on domestic officialdom. The government and judicial departments in other places should take it as a warning and severely punish the‘three consumption at public expense’like eating and drinking. Those grafters who expend public funds at will should pay for their behaviors, and then the political life become pure and fresh.