Officials warned on prostitution

• Source: Global Times
• [03:33 October 23 2009]
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A vice-general manager surnamed Sun of a construction company in Lishui city, Zhejiang Province, was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment for accepting a client's treat to visit prostitutes. In return, Sun promised profitable construction projects.

Li's words could be effective in preventing officials from being lured by "sexual bribery," Lin said.

"The warning has also tightened the loopholes in punishing corrupt officials who trade power for sex," she said.

Loopholes in Chinese law have made it difficult to look into corrupt officials' liabilities for bribery, as China's Criminal Law does not regard sexual bribery as evidence for bribery charges.

Ding Yifan, a Chinese scholar at the Development Research Center of the State Council, told the Global Times that Li's remarks state explicitly for the first time the uncommon phenomenon among officials, especially those at the grass-roots level.

"Officials' behavior is likely to be better standardized in the future," he said.

Liang Chen contributed to this story