Corporate corruption and a lack of integrity are preventing the growth of Chinese companies, a leading company law expert has warned.

Companies that obtained business opportunities through graft and cheating disturbed market order and subverted fair competition, Professor Jiang Ping, of the China University of Political Science and Law, told an international forum on company law in Beijing.

Chinese court statistics showed the drug industry paid an average 772 million yuan in kickbacks a year in the form of medicine commissions. The total sum involved in corporate bribery cases investigated by judicial organs over the last five years was 5.28 billion yuan.

Jiang said businesses had developed rapidly since the government initiated the reform and opening-up policies, but compared with companies in developed Western countries, Chinese firms were immature, and lacking social integrity and a healthy corporate culture.

The revised Company Law, which came in effect on Jan. 1, is believed to have played an important role in regulating the market economy. Draft anti-monopoly and bankruptcy laws are also expected to improve regulation.

The anti-monopoly law has been listed in this year's legislative plan for the Standing Committee of the the National People's Congress (NPC). The draft bankruptcy law is still under review.

Source: Xinhua