The Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) has released a white paper on criminal prosecution work for 2024, detailing the measures and outcomes of procuratorial organs across the country in punishing crimes that infringe on people's livelihoods.
"Procuratorial organs strengthened judicial safeguards for food and drug safety," said Hou Yahui, a member of the Procuratorial Committee of the SPP and Director General of the SPP's Procuratorial Department for General Crimes.
According to Hou, procuratorial organs prosecuted around 15,000 individuals for crimes endangering food and drug safety, including 6,430 for endangering drug safety and 8,563 for endangering food safety.
Hou noted that procuratorial organs also intensified crackdown on medical insurance fraud. In 2024, in collaboration with medical insurance administrative agencies, procuratorial organs carried out a targeted campaign against violations involving medical insurance funds. They prosecuted 4,715 individuals for medical insurance fraud and placed six cases with significant complexity and adverse social influence under special supervision.
In particular, the SPP, together with the Supreme People's Court (SPC) and the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), issued Guidelines on Handling Criminal Cases of Medical Insurance Fraud, setting out the criminal classification, sentencing standards, case handling procedures, and relevant institutional mechanisms related to such cases.
Hou emphasized that in 2024, procuratorial organs strengthened the protection of legitimate rights and interests of specific groups in accordance with the law.
They prosecuted 1,140 individuals for malicious wage arrears and, for six consecutive years, released typical cases of refusal to pay labor remuneration, safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of workers, particularly migrant workers, he said.
In collaboration with the SPC, the MPS and other ministries, the SPP launched a special campaign to crack down on the trafficking of women and children, punishing related crimes and prosecuting 1,268 individuals, he added.
Hou pointed out that procuratorial organs prosecuted 44,561 individuals for crimes infringing on the rights of the elderly, promptly transferred clues of violations and illegal activities of elderly care institutions as well as dereliction of duty by officials from supervisory authorities uncovered during case handling to relevant departments. For suspected crimes that should have been filed but were not, procuratorial organs exercised legal supervision to ensure such cases were filed in accordance with the law.
"We strive to address the urgent needs and pressing concerns of the people, truly serving the people through procuratorial work that the people can feel, experience and benefit from," Hou said.
