Chapter VIII Crimes of Embezzlement and Bribery

Article 382 Any State functionary who, by taking advantage of his office, appropriates, steals, swindles public money or property or by other means illegally take it into his own possession shall be guilty of embezzlement.

Any person authorized by State organs, State-owned companies, enterprises, institutions or people's organizations to administer and manage State-owned property who, by taking advantage of his office, appropriates, steals, swindles the said property or by other means illegally take it into his own possession shall be regarded as being guilty of embezzlement.

Whoever conspires with the person mentioned in the preceding two paragraphs to engage in embezzlement shall be regarded as joint offenders in the crime and punished as such.

Article 383 Persons who commit the crime of embezzlement shall be punished respectively in the light of the seriousness of the circumstances and in accordance with the following provisions:

(1) An individual who embezzles not less than 100,000 yuan shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years or life imprisonment and may also be sentenced to confiscation of property; if the circumstances are especially serious, he shall be sentenced to death and also to confiscation of property.

(2) An individual who embezzles not less than 50,000 yuan but less than 100,000 yuan shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years and may also be sentenced to confiscation of property; if the circumstances are especially serious, he shall be sentenced to life imprisonment and confiscation of property.

(3) An individual who embezzles not less than 5,000 yuan but less than 50,000 yuan shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than one year but not more than seven years; if the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than seven years but not more than 10 years. If an individual who embezzles not less than 5,000 yuan and less than 10,000 yuan, shows true repentance after committing the crime, and gives up the embezzled money of his own accord, he may be given a mitigated punishment, or he may be exempted from criminal punishment but shall be subjected to administrative sanctions by his work unit or by the competent authorities at a higher level.

(4) An individual who embezzles less than 5,000 yuan, if the circumstances are relatively serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than two years or criminal detention; if the circumstances are relatively minor, he shall be given administrative sanctions at the discretion of his work unit or of the competent authorities at a higher level.

Whoever repeatedly commits the crime of embezzlement and goes unpunished shall be punished on the basis of the cumulative amount of money he has embezzled.

Article 384 Any State functionary who, by taking advantage of his position , misappropriates public funds for his own use or for conducting illegal activities, or misappropriates a relatively large amount of public funds for profit-making activities, or misappropriates a relatively large amount of public funds and fails to return it after the lapse of three months, shall be guilty of misappropriation of public funds and shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention; if the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years. Whoever misappropriates a huge, amount of public funds and fails to return it shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years or life imprisonment.

Whoever misappropriates for his own use funds or materials allocated for disaster relief, emergency rescue, flood prevention and control, special care for disabled servicemen and the families of revolutionary martyrs and servicemen, aid to the poor, migration and social relief shall be given a heavier punishment.

Article 385 Any State functionary who, by taking advantage of his position, extorts money or property from another person, or illegally accepts another person's money or property in return for securing benefits for the person shall be guilty of acceptance of bribes.

Any State functionary who, in economic activities, violates State regulations by accepting rebates or service charges of various descriptions and taking them into his own possession shall be regarded as guilty of acceptance of bribes and punished for it.

Article 386 Whoever has committed the crime of acceptance of bribes shall, on the basis of the amount of money or property accepted and the seriousness of the circumstances, be punished in accordance with the provisions of Article 383 of this Law. Whoever extorts bribes from another person shall be given a heavier punishment.

Article 387 Where a State organ, State-owned company, enterprise, institution or people's organization extorts from another person or illegally accepts another person's money or property in return for securing benefits for the person, if the circumstances are serious, it shall be fined, and the persons who are directly in charge and the other persons who are directly responsible for the offence shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention.

Any of the units mentioned in the preceding paragraph that, in economic activities, secretly accepts off-the-book rebates or service charges of various descriptions shall be regarded as guilty of acceptance of bribes and punished in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

Article 388 Any State functionary who, by taking advantage of his own functions and powers or position, secures illegitimate benefits for an entrusting person through another State functionary's performance of his duties and extorts from the entrusting person or accepts the entrusting person's money or property shall be regarded as guilty of acceptance of bribes and punished for it.

Article 389 Whoever, for the purpose of securing illegitimate benefits, gives money or property to a State functionary shall be guilty of offering bribes.

Whoever, in economic activities, violates State regulations by giving a relatively large amount of money or property to a State functionary or by giving him rebates or service charges of various descriptions shall be regarded as guilty of offering bribes and punished for it.

Any person who offers money or property to a State functionary through extortion but gains no illegitimate benefits shall not be regarded as offering bribes.

Article 390 Whoever commits the crime of offering bribes shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention; whoever offers bribes to secure illegitimate benefits, if the circumstances are serious or if heavy losses are caused to the interests of the State, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than 10 years; if the circumstances are especially serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years or life imprisonment and may also be sentenced to confiscation of property .

Any briber who, before he is investigated for criminal responsibility, voluntarily confesses his act of offering bribes may be given a mitigated punishment or exempted from punishment.

Article 391 Whoever, for the purpose of securing illegitimate benefits, gives money or property to a State organ, State-owned company, enterprise, institution or people's organization or, in economic activities, violates State regulations by giving rebates or service charges of various descriptions shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention.

Where a unit commits the crime mentioned in the preceding paragraph, it shall be fined, and the persons who are directly in charge and the other persons who are directly responsible for the offence shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

Article 392 Whoever introduces a bribe to a State functionary, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention.

Any person who introduces a bribe but voluntarily confesses the act before he is investigated for criminal responsibility may be given a mitigated punishment or exempted from punishment.

Article 393 Where a unit offers bribes for the purpose of securing illegitimate benefits or, in violation of State regulations, gives rebates or service charges to a State functionary, if the circumstances are serious, it shall be fined, and the persons who are directly in charge and the other persons who are directly responsible for the offence shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention. Any person who takes into his own possession the illegal gains derived from bribing shall be convicted and punished in accordance with the provisions of Articles 389 and 390 of this Law.

Article 394 Any State functionary who, in his activities of domestic public service or in his contacts with foreigners, accepts gifts and does not hand them over to the State as is required by State regulations, if the amount involved is relatively large, shall be convicted and punished in accordance with the provisions of Articles 382 and 383 of this Law.

Article 395 Any State functionary whose property or expenditure obviously exceeds his lawful income, if the difference is enormous, may be ordered to explain the sources of his property. If he cannot prove that the sources are legitimate, the part that exceeds his lawful income shall be regarded as illegal gains, and he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention, and the part of property that exceeds his lawful income shall be recovered.

Any State functionary shall, in accordance with State regulations, declare to the State his bank savings outside the territory of China. Whoever has a relatively large amount of such savings and does not declare them to the State shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than two years or criminal detention; if the circumstances are relatively minor, he shall be given administrative sanctions at the discretion of his work unit or the competent authorities at a higher level.

Article 396 Where a State organ, State-owned company, enterprise, institution or people's organization, in violation of State regulations and in the name of the unit, divides up State-owned assets in secret among all the individuals of the unit, if the amount involved is relatively large, the persons who are directly in charge and the other persons who are directly responsible for the offence shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and shall also, or shall only, be fined; if the amount involved is huge,, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years and shall also be fined.

Any judicial organ or administrative law-enforcing organ that, in violation of State regulations and in the name of the organ, divides up in secret the fines or confiscated money or property, which should be turned over to the State, among all the individuals of the organ shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.