What is the boundary between gift-giving and normal courtesy exchanges and bribery?

Typical cases

Wu Mou, a member of the Communist Party of China, a deputy to the People's Congress of C Province D City, and the person in charge of a real estate development enterprise in D City. From 2014 to 2017, Wu used traditional festivals such as the Spring Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival to give D Municipal Party Committee Deputy Secretary Chen and Chen's wife Luo a total of 180,000 yuan in red envelopes and jade ornaments worth 80,000 yuan. In August 2016, Wu sold a commercial house in the high-end residential area he developed to Yu X, the daughter of Yu X, the mayor of B City, at a 30% discount of the market price.

Case Studies

I. Determination of Wu's conduct

Etiquette is a Tradition in China, and there is nothing wrong with it. However, with the transformation of the economic system and the diversification of social life, the symbolic meaning of red envelopes representing family affection and friendship has been transformed, and the function of seeking benefits has become increasingly prominent, and the way of gift-giving has also changed, from tobacco and alcohol items to cash in the past, developing into various names, such as gift money, negotiable securities, payment vouchers, commercial prepaid cards, subsidies, house purchases, decoration payments, etc. In addition to general gifts and gift money, there are also gold and silver jewelry, antique calligraphy and paintings, etc. Judging from the cases investigated and handled in recent years, there are both business owners, as well as government departments and institutions.

The issue of gift-giving is both a stubborn disease and a major public nuisance. It has not only harmed party members and cadres themselves, their families, and even their relatives and friends, but also corrupted the party style, political style, and social atmosphere. Article 89 of the "Regulations on Disciplinary Punishment of the Communist Party of China" clearly stipulates that if the circumstances are more serious, gifts, gifts, consumer cards, negotiable securities, equity, other financial products, and other property that are clearly beyond the normal exchange of gifts and gifts, if the circumstances are more serious, a warning or a serious warning is given; if the circumstances are serious, they shall be dismissed from their posts within the Party or placed on probation in the Party.

In this case, Wu used the annual holidays to give gifts to the city leaders and their spouses, and found the opportunity for the mayor's daughter to buy a house and sell the house at a low price that she liked, which was essentially a disguised transfer of benefits, and its purpose was to exchange it for benefits in the future. The above-mentioned terms and conditions shall apply and be dealt with.

2. The boundaries between gift-giving behavior and normal courtesy exchanges

Normal exchange of gifts generally refers to the situation in which there is a long-term exchange between the two sides, and the amount of gifts given is small, and it is a mutual gift, and the amount is roughly the same. For normal human relations, it is not appropriate to punish them as disciplinary violations. In contrast, the violation of discipline in giving gifts, gift money, consumption cards, and so on often only occurs during the term of office of leading cadres, and the amount is relatively large, and it is unilaterally given to leading cadres by subordinates or business owners, or the amount received by leading cadres is very large and the amount of gifts is very small.

3. The boundaries between gift-giving and bribery

Article 84 of the 2015 Revision of the Regulations on Disciplinary Punishment of the Communist Party of China explicitly includes the gift-giving behavior of Party members in the scope of punishment, but this practice was continued when the Regulation was revised in 2018, stipulating that Party members may give gifts, gifts, consumption cards, etc. that clearly exceed the normal exchange of gifts to persons engaged in public service, their spouses and children, their children's spouses and other relatives, and may be given sanctions from warning to probation depending on the seriousness of the circumstances. That is to say, through cracking down on the act of receiving gifts and giving gifts at the same time, we must thoroughly rectify the unhealthy atmosphere of receiving gifts and gifts in the official arena, so as to straighten out the party style and political style and promote the social style and the people's style.

The line between gift-giving and bribery lies in whether there is a request for trust and profit. According to article 389 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, the crime of bribery is to give money or property to state functionaries in order to seek improper benefits, and also includes the act of giving property or property to state functionaries in various names in violation of state regulations in economic transactions, the amount of which is relatively large, or in violation of state regulations, giving rebates or handling fees in various names. However, if the act of giving gifts is simply to give property, if it does not ask the state functionaries for improper benefits, or if it does not give the state functionaries property in the name of kickbacks and handling fees in economic transactions, it belongs to the category of handling within the Party and is qualitatively dealt with as a violation of integrity and discipline.

Source: Heilongjiang Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection Supervision Commission website