Comments and Added Remarks on the Issue of Arrest and Sentencing Authority for Major Embezzlers
(January 4 and 6, 1952)

Comrade Bo Yibo [1] is requested to draft a reply [2] and simultaneously inform all regions.

Mao Zedong
January 4

If in certain localities it is necessary to execute a few embezzlers in order to facilitate the mobilization of the masses, a few may also be executed.

[1] Based on Mao Zedong’s comment on January 4, 1952, Bo Yibo drafted the Central Committee’s reply telegram, which was reviewed and revised by Mao Zedong and issued on January 6. Mao Zedong’s sentence was added to the reply telegram after the passage: “However, in January, efforts should only be focused on launching a large-scale, vigorous, and swift campaign to mobilize the masses to report and expose embezzlement cases and conduct interrogations, without rushing to carry out executions.”

--- Notes

[1] Bo Yibo, then Director of the Economy Conservation Inspection Committee of the Central People’s Government.
[2] Refers to the drafting of a reply telegram from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to the East China Bureau regarding its January 2, 1952, telegram to the Shandong Sub-Bureau and the Central Committee, seeking instructions on the arrest and sentencing authority for major embezzlers. The East China Bureau’s telegram stated:
It is agreed that the authority to approve the arrest of ordinary major embezzlers shall be delegated to prefectural Party committees and directly administered municipal Party committees. For individuals with provincial or national influence who need to be arrested for embezzlement, approval must be sought from the provincial Party committee or regional Party committee, and in important cases, from the East China Bureau or the Central Committee. Sentencing of embezzlers to imprisonment or the death penalty shall be handled by judicial authorities in accordance with the regulations on punishing embezzlement.