【英语财经】中国反腐迄今追回387亿元人民币 Xi’s war on corruption boosts coffers by Rmb39bn

Chinese anti-corruption authorities have returned Rmb38.7bn ($6.2bn) in ill-gotten gains to the nation’s coffers since President Xi Jinping launched his war on graft in late 2012, according to official figures.

Hundreds of thousands of officials have been investigated since Mr Xi took office and launched his “rectification” campaign to tackle endemic bribery and rule-breaking.

The figures released yesterday give the first indication of the size of seizures carried out as part of the crusade.

The Rmb38.7bn recovered includes confiscated bribes in the form of cash, land and gifts, as well as fines levied as part of the recovery of unpaid taxes and sales of underpriced state assets.

In an interview published on its website, China’s top anti-corruption body, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, said the money had been returned to the state, without specifying which government entity received it.

Some officials have raised questions about the handling of assets seized by the anti-corruption authorities because they operate outside the law and are not subjected to any outside scrutiny.

Of the Rmb38.7bn recovered so far, Rmb18.6bn has been handled by China’s formal legal system while the remaining Rmb20.1bn has been recovered and returned to state coffers by the CCDI itself, according to Han Jinping, director-general of the CCDI’s case co-ordination department.

“Submitting illegally obtained money to the national coffers and recovering economic losses will help correct the economic incentives distorted through corruption,” Ms Han said.

“Not allowing these people to benefit economically is also an important criterion from a political, legal and social standpoint.”

In launching the anti-corruption campaign in late 2012, Mr Xi vowed to tackle high-ranking “tigers” as well as lowly “flies” from the ranks of the bureaucracy. The most spectacular downfalls have been those of Zhou Yongkang, the former head of China’s sprawling security apparatus and a member of the all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee until late 2012, and General Xu Caihou, a former politburo member and vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission.

Both of their cases involved the seizure of large sums of cash and precious gifts, and Chinese media reports have been filled with lurid tales of the ill-gotten booty found in their possession.

While there is little public sympathy for the officials who have fallen in the current campaign, some in the bureaucracy have quietly complained about the lack of scrutiny or due process involved in many of the cases.

They say innocent family members of detained officials are often unfairly punished, since those punished by the CCDI often lose all of their assets as well as any pensions or benefits, leaving the family and children destitute.

In some cases, disgraced officials have resorted to suicide after becoming a target for the anti-corruption authorities because their death will often mean the end of an investigation and reprieve for their family and assets.

官方数据显示，自中国国家主席习近平2012年末发起反腐败斗争以来，中国反腐部门已经为国库收缴了387亿元人民币（约合62亿美元）的非法所得。

自习近平上任并发起“党风廉政建设”运动、打击猖獗的贿赂和违纪行为以来，已有数十万官员被调查。

昨日发布的数据，首次显示了作为反腐斗争的一部分收缴非法所得的规模。

被追回的387亿元人民币包括没收的受贿所得，其形式包括现金、土地和礼品，以及为追回偷漏税和低价处置国有资产所造成损失而进行的罚款。

在中央纪委网站发表的一篇访谈中，中国最高反腐机构称，这部分钱已经上缴国家，但并未具体指出哪个政府部门是接收方。

有些官员已经对反腐部门处理收缴资产的方式提出了质疑，因为这些部门在法外运作，且不受任何外部监督。

据中纪委案件协调处处长韩晋萍介绍，在迄今追回的387亿元人民币中，由中国正规司法机关处理的是186亿元人民币，而其余201亿元是由中纪委自己收缴并上缴国库的。

“把收缴的违纪违法所得上缴国库或者是挽回经济损失，这样就使因为腐败而发生错位的经济利益最大可能恢复本位，”韩晋萍表示，“不让这些人在经济上占到便宜，这也是办理案件政治效果、法律效果和社会效果的一个重要考量标准。”

2012年末发起反腐运动时，习近平誓言既要打击高层的“老虎”，也到拍到官僚体制内较低级别的“苍蝇”。迄今扳倒的最高层人物当属周永康（原中央政法委书记、2012年末之前是中国最高权力机构中共中央政治局常委之一）和徐才厚上将（原政治局委员和中央军委副主席）。

这两起案件都包括了对大量现金和珍贵礼品的收缴，中文媒体的报道充斥着关于他们非法所得的各种惊人轶事。

虽然中国公众对当前反腐运动中的落马官员不抱什么同情，但体制内的一些官员私下抱怨称，许多此类案件的处理缺乏复核或正当程序。

他们说，被羁押官员的无辜家人往往遭到不公平的惩罚，因为那些被中纪委惩处的官员往往会失去所有的财产以及所有养老金或福利，导致家人和子女陷入穷困境地。

在某些情况下，有污点的官员在成为反腐部门的目标后会选择自杀，因为他们的死亡往往意味着调查终止，家人和资产不会受到追究。

译者/何黎