On July 2, 2026, Zhu Yalin and Xu Ying, senior partners at Beijing King&Capital Law Firm, were invited to the Alashan SEE Foundation to brief its entrepreneur members on changes to the rules regarding crimes involving private enterprises as outlined in the “Judicial Interpretation (II) on Embezzlement and Bribery” issued by the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, as well as the impact on private enterprises and how they should respond.
The Alashan SEE Foundation has long been deeply committed to ecological conservation and building a community of private entrepreneurs. It brings together numerous private entrepreneurs from various industrial sectors, and internal integrity governance and the prevention and control of occupational crimes are operational challenges of great concern to its members. This special session precisely addressed the entrepreneurs’ practical needs.
Attorney Zhu Yalin systematically interpreted the far-reaching impact of the new regulations on the governance of private enterprises from perspectives such as legislative coordination, responses to new forms of covert corruption, and the transition toward policies of equal protection. Attorney Zhu Yalin emphasized that the new regulations mark a crucial shift from “strict enforcement in the public sector and lenient treatment in the private sector” to “applying the same standard to both public and private sectors,” resulting in a significant increase in the criminal risks associated with internal corruption within private enterprises. Drawing on typical cases from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission, Attorney Zhu also provided an in-depth explanation of practical challenges such as “penetrative review,” “confiscation of expected proceeds,” and “authentication and price appraisal.” Through a comparative analysis of the Sun Mou bribery-for-profit case and the Zhao Mou pipe materials sales company bribery case, she clearly delineated the boundary between the confiscation of legitimate business proceeds and illicit gains, warning entrepreneurs that business opportunities do not equate to grounds for exemption from liability; only by severing the causal chain of criminal activity can one safeguard the fruits of legitimate business operations. Addressing high-frequency risks in interactions between entrepreneurs and government officials, she outlined six absolute red lines during the training, including “hunting by associates,” “long-term emotional investment,” “option-style promises,” “introduction of bribes,” “transfer of property-related benefits,” and “transactions with related parties,” emphasizing that a “close yet clean” government-business relationship is not merely a slogan but a matter of life and death.
Drawing on industry research data, Attorney Xu Ying conducted an in-depth analysis: corporate crime has shown an upward trend over the past three years, but the increase in the number of crimes cannot simply be interpreted as a rise in the number of perpetrators. It requires a comprehensive, multi-dimensional assessment that takes into account national legislation, policies, judicial practices, and law enforcement trends to calibrate corporate management strategies accordingly. Subsequently, Attorney Xu Ying provided the attending entrepreneurs with a detailed explanation of the legislative changes in the “Interpretation on Embezzlement and Bribery (II)” regarding the crimes of accepting bribes by non-state personnel, embezzlement of corporate assets, and misappropriation of funds. These changes primarily involve aligning the thresholds for criminal liability and sentencing with those for state personnel, as well as filling the legal gaps regarding cases involving “particularly huge” amounts in the crimes of accepting bribes by non-state personnel and embezzlement of corporate assets. She noted that the new regulations have significantly lowered the threshold for criminal liability for internal occupational crimes in private enterprises and increased the severity of criminal penalties. Once criminal acts committed by “insiders” are discovered, they will face more severe criminal penalties, significantly enhancing the legal deterrence for internal anti-corruption efforts within enterprises. Addressing the challenges associated with “insider crimes”—such as their high level of concealment, difficulties in gathering evidence, and high costs of post-incident accountability—Attorney Xu Ying proposed a core governance approach: Corporate risk management must shift from “post-incident accountability” to “pre-incident prevention,” establishing a comprehensive corporate compliance system and building an internal integrity management mechanism that ensures employees “dare not, cannot, and do not want to” engage in corruption. At the same time, Attorney Xu Ying emphasized that companies must strike a balance between internal self-governance and the intervention of judicial authorities to maximize the recovery of assets involved in cases and mitigate economic losses to the company. Finally, Attorney Xu Ying specifically warned all entrepreneurs to be vigilant against the misuse of criminal proceedings as tools in internal power struggles. Companies must improve their end-to-end management systems for financial approvals, fund transfers, and business records, ensuring that all business transactions are fully documented to prevent legal risks associated with occupational crimes at the source.
This training session aimed to help private entrepreneurs accurately identify criminal risks under the new regulations, establish an end-to-end compliance management system, and truly achieve “understanding the rules and acting with discretion.” Against the backdrop of the deepening legal framework for anti-corruption efforts, criminal compliance has become a vital component of private enterprises’ core competitiveness.
The training also featured a dedicated module on “Cooperation with Supervisory Commission Investigations,” providing entrepreneurs with practical guidance—from assessing their legal status, engaging legal counsel, and organizing documentation to making family arrangements—to transition from a reactive stance to proactive compliance. With compliance as the foundation, we can move forward steadily and achieve long-term success.
At the seminar, participating entrepreneurs actively asked questions based on the pain points and challenges they faced in managing their own businesses and engaged in discussions with the lawyers. The two lawyers provided detailed, individualized answers to each enterprise’s specific inquiries, illustrating legal principles through case studies and clearly outlining practical and actionable compliance remediation plans.
The participating entrepreneurs unanimously agreed that this specialized seminar was highly targeted; it helped them clearly understand the new judicial standards brought about by the revisions to judicial interpretations and fully recognize that compliant business operations are the key to a company’s long-term stability and prosperity.
