If a judge flees abroad with hundreds of millions of yuan in enforcement funds, can the law effectively hold them accountable?
According to media reports, before the entire family of a judge’s assistant from the Enforcement Bureau of a certain court fled abroad, they had transferred as much as hundreds of millions of yuan in enforcement funds abroad. Moreover, they have obtained foreign nationality.
So, can the law require the extradition of civil servants who have fled with funds?
“Fadu Law” noted that Ke Jiongxiong, a lawyer from Beijing Hengdu Law Firm, stated on social media that it is not absolutely impossible. Ke Jiongxiong said that as an important part of international cooperation in law enforcement and judicial affairs, extradition is a relatively formal and legally complete means of pursuing fugitives internationally. The basis for extradition generally falls into two categories: extradition clauses in multilateral treaties and bilateral extradition treaties.
Ke Jiongxiong said that civil servants who flee with funds generally involve crimes such as corruption, which do not have specific multilateral treaties containing extradition clauses, nor do they have bilateral extradition treaties, thus lacking a basis for extradition. However, does the lack of a basis in international law mean that it is completely impossible to request Japan to extradite? Not necessarily. According to Article 15 of China’s “Extradition Law”, in the absence of an extradition treaty, the requesting country should make a reciprocal commitment. In other words, China can still make an extradition request to Japan, but it needs to make a reciprocal commitment at the same time. However, in practice, there are not many successful extradition cases without an extradition treaty, and among the four methods of pursuing fugitives, repatriation is actually more common. Therefore, it is very difficult to hope for extradition from Japan.
If there is no extradition treaty between the two parties, can the corrupt individuals be at large?
Ke Jiongxiong said that the special procedure added after the 2018 revision of the Criminal Procedure Law – the absentee trial procedure. For corrupt individuals who have fled to Japan, as long as the facts have been verified and the evidence is sufficient, the litigation documents can be served through international judicial assistance. If the defendant fails to appear as required, the people’s court should hold a trial, make a judgment in accordance with the law, and deal with the illegal gains and other property involved.
If the absentee trial procedure is initiated, what kind of legal ruling will the judge’s assistant face?
Wei Jingfeng, a senior partner at Beijing Zhongdun Law Firm, told “Fadu Law” that the conditions for applying the absentee trial procedure include cases of corruption and bribery, as well as cases of serious crimes endangering national security and terrorist activities that need to be tried in a timely manner, which have been approved by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate. In this case, the judge’s assistant fleeing with enforcement funds is suspected of corruption, which falls within the scope of cases for absentee trials.
Wei Jingfeng said that, in combination with the case, the judge’s assistant may be suspected of corruption and money laundering. According to Article 383 of the “Criminal Law”, those who commit corruption with a particularly large amount or other particularly serious circumstances shall be sentenced to imprisonment for more than 10 years or life imprisonment, and shall be fined or have their property confiscated; those with a particularly large amount and causing particularly serious losses to the interests of the state and the people may be sentenced to death, and their property shall be confiscated. In this case, “hundreds of millions of yuan” belongs to a “particularly large amount”, and may face imprisonment for more than 10 years, life imprisonment, or even the death penalty, and shall be fined or have their property confiscated.
In addition, Wei Jingfeng said that the judge’s assistant is also suspected of money laundering, which belongs to the newly added self-money laundering behavior. According to Article 191 of the “Criminal Law”, for the purpose of concealing or disguising the source and nature of the proceeds from drug crimes, organized crime of a mafia nature, terrorist activities, smuggling, corruption and bribery, crimes that disrupt financial management order, and financial fraud, and transferring assets across borders, the proceeds from the above crimes and the income generated therefrom shall be confiscated, and the offender shall be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than five years or criminal detention, and shall be fined or only fined; if the circumstances are serious, the offender shall be sentenced to imprisonment for not less than five years but not more than ten years, and shall be fined. It is understood that in this case, the judge’s assistant first transferred the enforcement funds to his own name, and then transferred them abroad. When the judge’s assistant transferred the enforcement funds to his own account, the crime of corruption had already been completed. The subsequent act of transferring the stolen money abroad constitutes money laundering, which is self-money laundering. According to law, he should be sentenced to imprisonment for not less than five years but not more than ten years, and shall be fined. The judge’s assistant may be convicted of both corruption and money laundering, and should be punished for multiple crimes.
Will this matter involve the legal responsibility of the relevant personnel of the Enforcement Bureau of the court?
Lawyer Jiang Wei, deputy director of Beijing Hehong Weiyu Law Firm, told “Fadu Law” that considering the huge amount of money involved in the case and the extremely bad impact, if it is verified, it will inevitably trigger multiple legal accountability procedures. From the execution judge and clerk who handled the same case, to the director of the Enforcement Bureau and the vice president in charge of the court, they will face supervision and dereliction of duty review, and even bear administrative sanctions such as dereliction of duty or dismissal. If it is found that the above-mentioned personnel colluded to transfer funds, they will be held accountable as accomplices in corruption; in addition, the political department and the entry and exit management department of the court will also be held accountable for violating the regulatory responsibilities of the “Judge Law” and the “Interim Provisions on Strengthening the Management of State Staff’s Private Affairs Abroad (Border)”.
In addition to accountability, Jiang Wei said that the court system should also conduct a comprehensive review of enforcement funds and property, centralized management of passports of key personnel, and verification of all personnel’s property declarations to find out other possible loopholes, and learn from each other within the court system. This accident should not only hold individuals accountable, but more importantly, learn from it and make up for institutional loopholes.
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