Crackdown urged on graft that affects ordinary people

China's top judicial authorities have renewed calls to step up the crackdown on corruption that hits closest to ordinary people's daily lives, urging strong measures to root out the conditions that foster graft at the source.

The Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate highlighted five corruption cases that struck at the public's immediate interests on Tuesday. These span critical livelihood areas — from housing and nursing services to medical insurance funds, school meal programs and disability rights.

The criminals in the cases held relatively low-ranking positions within their work departments — they are often called "flies" rather than "tigers" — but they were far more closely connected to ordinary people. "Cracking down on this type of corruption serves as a strong deterrent to, as well as a stark warning against similar malpractice," the top judicial authorities said.

In one disclosed case, a man surnamed Zhou, former head of a market office under a housing security service center in a county in Hunan province, was sentenced to 11 years and six months in prison for embezzlement and misappropriation of public funds in December 2023. He was also fined 1 million yuan ($141,426).

Between April 2012 and December 2022, Zhou was found to have used his position overseeing the county's property maintenance fund by collecting it through his personal QR code, issuing fake receipts instead of official ones, withholding payments from accounts, and embezzling a total of 9.93 million yuan in public funds, which he utilized entirely on his family's and personal expenses.

From June 2015 to September 2018, he misappropriated 1.72 million yuan in public funds by using it to repay his personal loans and interests, with the sums outstanding for more than three months.

The case spanned over a decade, involving more than 3,000 households and nearly 10,000 residents, according to the local court. Investigations revealed that Zhou and his ex-wife resorted to a sham divorce to transfer assets and evade recovery of illicit gains.

While punishing Zhou, the local judicial departments, during the case handling, also provided rectification recommendations to the institutions involved, targeting loopholes in the management of maintenance funds, property service systems, as well as oversight mechanisms.

"Housing is a major issue affecting people's livelihoods, and the special property maintenance fund is an important safeguard for homeowners," the top judicial authorities emphasized, saying that illegally withholding such funds severely infringes upon the legitimate rights and interests of homeowners.

They highlighted the ruling, calling for sustained efforts to fight against those directly harming people's immediate interests. Additionally, they supported deploying judicial recommendations as a strategic instrument to identify regulatory blind spots and supervision gaps in government agencies and industries.