Guiding Case No. 8 of the Supreme People's Procuratorate: People v. Yang Zhouwu for neglecting duties, bending the law for personal gains and accepting bribes

(Guiding Case No. 8 of the Supreme People's Procuratorate)

[Keywords]

Crime of neglecting duties, crime of bending the law for personal gains, crime of accepting bribes, causation, joinder of penalties for plural crimes

[Key Points]

This case has two key points. One is the determination of the causation in a crime of malfeasance in office. Where a state official with a duty of supervision fails to diligently perform his or her duty of supervision and therefore fails to effectively prevent the occurrence of harmful consequences, the act of malfeasance in office that has a causative potency for such harmful consequences should be determined to have causation with harmful consequences in accordance with the Criminal Law. The other is the punishment principle for concurrently committing the crime of malfeasance in office and the crime of accepting bribes. Where a state official who commits the crime of malfeasance in office also accepts bribes, if the crime of accepting bribes is concurrently committed, the state official shall be subject to a joinder of penalties for the crime of malfeasance in office and the crime of accepting bribes, except as otherwise provided for by Article 399 of the Criminal Law.

[Relevant Legislation]

Articles 397, 399, 385, and 69 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China

[Basic Facts]

Defendant Yang Zhouwu, male, born in 1958, former chief of Tongle Police Station, Longgang Branch of the Public Security Bureau of Longgang District, Shenzhen City.

The facts of the crimes are as follows:

Wuwang Dancing Hall in Longgang District, Shenzhen City, as operated by Wang (handled in another case), was founded on July 9, 1999, upon approval of the Administration for Industry and Commerce of Shenzhen City, with its business address at Longping Road, Longgang District. In 2006, the business license of this Dancing Hall was legally revoked. On September 8, 2007, without approval of the relevant authorities, Wang operated Wuwang Club in Sanhe Village, Longdong Community, Longgang Sub-District, within the jurisdiction of the Tongle Police Station. Since October 2001, Yang Zhouwu had been the chief of Tongle Police Station. Several days before the grand opening of Wuwang Club, in order to obtain favor from Tongle Police Station, Wang treated Yang Zhouwu and others at Chuanxiang Restaurant operated by He, Yang Zhouwu 's wife. Afterwards, in the information gathering and filing and the routine inspection on Wuwang Club by police officers of the Sanhe responsibility division of Tongle Police Station, it was found that Wang could not produce necessary certificates such as the fire control permit and the permit for entertainment operations, the name and address on the photocopy of the business license provided were inconsistent with the actual ones and the business license had expired. After being informed of such information, Yang Zhouwu did not urge the police officers in the responsibility division to ban Wuwang Club in a timely manner as legally required. The police officers in the responsibility division also found that there were hidden dangers such as operating overtime, exceeding capacity, suspected activities of prostitution and drug dealings, failure to have professional security guards, and occurrence of multiple public security cases. Yang Zhouwu neither ordered Wuwang Club to cease business for a major overhaul nor ordered police officers in the responsibility division to track and oversee the overhaul of Wuwang Club as legally required.
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