Facts

During a cabling and equipment maintenance project for the Shanghai office building of M, a US-invested consulting company, H — legal representative of a network engineering company — repeatedly paid a total of RMB 610,000 to employees of M’s computer department on behalf of his company. H voluntarily confessed the payments.

Issues

Whether the payments constituted bribery of non-state functionaries (Article 163) or of state functionaries; whether the offence was committed by the company or by H personally; and the effect of voluntary confession, restitution and the company’s compliance circumstances.

Defence

Li Xiaohua acted for H. The defence established that the payments were made for the company’s commercial benefit and were attributable to the unit, distinguished the recipients’ status, and relied on the voluntary confession and full disgorgement.

Outcome

The court convicted H and, having accepted the mitigating circumstances, reduced the sentence in accordance with law.

Note

For foreign-invested employers the lesson is procedural: procurement controls and anti-bribery clauses, not prosecution, are what prevent this outcome.