Property Rights Protections a Priority for 2017, Judicial Authorities Say

(Beijing) - China’s top court and state prosecutor’s office vowed to plug legal loopholes undermining the protection of property rights of businesses in their 2016 work reports released Sunday, and to reassess controversial cases that may involve wrongful convictions or illegal expropriation of commercial assets.

“We’ll strictly distinguish between business conflicts and criminal offenses, be prudent when adopting forceful measures (such as freezing or confiscating assets) and push forward the lawful protection of property rights, so as to provide a safe environment for businesses,” Zhou Qiang, president of the Supreme People’s Court, said at the ongoing annual session of the National People’s Congress in Beijing on Sunday.

A number of controversial legal cases involving private business owners being prosecuted for “illegal fundraising” or “stealing state assets” have been reported in recent years. They have often resulted in business owners being jailed and their property being confiscated. But, in many instances questions have been raised over the local courts’ handling of such cases.

The main decision-making body of the Communist Party, its Central Committee, issued a guideline in November promising equal protection for all types of property rights, both state-owned and privately owned. It also pledged to reopen previous cases with questionable verdicts and warned local government officials against interfering in judicial affairs. The move was part of the government’s attempts to boost business confidence amid insecurity over economic headwinds.

In Sunday’s report, Zhou said the top court in 2016 had already instructed all lower level courts to start reassessing cases suspected of violating due process. It had also advised all courts to tighten legal procedures applicable to criminal cases involving corporate assets so that accusations against a company or its executives do not interrupt regular business operations.

Last year, the top court also publicized 10 example cases in which the judiciary had protected the property rights of private companies after an infringement by local government agencies.

The Supreme People’s Procuratorate also stressed on the need to strengthen property rights protection in its annual report on Sunday. Top prosecutor Cao Jianming said his office had indicted more than 13,600 people in 2016 on charges of infringing upon private businesses’ legal rights. Prosecutors had also investigated over 1,000 such cases that involved government officials.

Cao said the procuratorate would continue to review some property cases to ensure that the judgments had made a strict distinction between legal properties and illicit gains, personal and corporate assets and business disputes and crimes.

Contact reporter Wu Gang (gangwu@caixin.com)