On the first day of this year, Xu’s investigation and consulting
firm opened in a small alley in the area of the
Temple of
Confucius in
Nanjing
City,
Jiangsu Province. The company, which is actually a private
investigation agency, provides such services as checking a
business’s or a person’s credit rating, collecting evidence on the
manufacture and sale of fake products, and private detective work
for individuals.
The company is run by just four people—Xu, a veteran with
long-standing experience in intelligence work and Xu’s three
friends, who were previously employed as a policeman, army scout
and lawyer. All have vast experience conducting investigations and
collecting evidence.
Xu
said he opened the company because he believes the trade has bright
prospects and will make good returns. Just one week after the
company was established, it had 10 clients.
Investigation agencies like Xu’s are still rare in China. Actually,
when Xu applied for his business license, the local administration
for industry and commerce was uncertain about the whole matter. In
the end, Xu got the license after showing them material confirming
the existence of similar companies in Chengdu and Shenyang.
China’s first private investigation agency was established by a
group of Shanghai criminal investigators, who mostly conducted
investigations related to civil cases. Although this agency soon
folded, others appeared one after another in Beijing, Chengdu,
Shenyang, Harbin and other cities. China now has more than 100
private investigation agencies.
A
report by a Beijing-based media organization stated that many
private investigators compete for business by putting up
advertisements on the streets. These private investigators, often
equipped with mini-cameras and other devices, are at their best
investigating on behalf of wives who want to know if their husbands
have a mistress. They can be so sneaky that they can sometimes
secretly install a camera or bugging device inside the homes of
those under surveillance to record highly private matters.
People can currently seek help from private investigators via the
web as well. On the home page, c007.com explains that it is China’s
first professional legal service site to provide information on
civil investigation, which receives 200,000 hits a day. The website
is dedicated to preventing crime and cracking down corruption, and
views it as an utmost priority to protect the rights and interests
of parties concerned. The website also stated that it could conduct
investigations regarding civil cases, extramarital affairs,
corruption and missing persons, and provide protection for those
troubled by sexual harassment. It revealed that it will investigate
extramarital affairs by conducting an investigation on behalf of
the clients in accordance with the principle of seeking
compensation from the misbehaving party according to the Marriage
Law, collecting evidence of a spouse’s disloyalty, and safeguarding
monogamy. Its anti-corruption investigation service offers to
conduct investigations on malpractice and breach of duty, as well
as the offer and acceptance of bribes. The investigation of an
individual’s whereabouts includes: Helping creditors locate missing
enterprises and debtors, and helping the court to investigate the
transfer of property.
All Are Illegal
Li, director of the Information Center of Beijing Municipal
Administration of Industry and Commerce, said no private
investigation agencies have been registered as such in Beijing. He
pointed out that companies registered as “information and
consulting firms” have exceeded the permitted scope of business by
conducting investigation and collecting evidence.
According to the official, no licenses have ever been granted to
any private investigation agency in other areas of China. Those
currently operating as private investigators usually obtained
business licenses by calling themselves “investigation centers” and
“information and consulting firms.” No one is sure how long this
practice will be allowed to continue, or whether these agencies
will be soon closed down.
Currently, the Criminal Procedure Law doesn’t include private
investigation in the collection of evidence. This means the State
still reserves the exclusive power to conduct investigations aimed
at collecting evidence. Given this, private investigators are yet
to overcome many legal and practical hurdles before they can boom
in China.
“Are there really private investigators in Beijing?” a leading
public security official replied with a surprised look when asked
about the matter. Zhang, from the Law Department of the Ministry of
Public Security, said the ministry issued a notice in 1993 to ban
private investigation agencies. The notice said, “Any work unit and
individual is forbidden to open, in any form, civil affairs
investigation agencies, security affairs investigation agencies and
other non-governmental institutions with a nature the same as a
private detective firm.” Businesses forbidden include: Handling
civil and economic disputes, recovering debts for clients,
searching for missing persons, conducting consultation on security
technologies, and probing private matters. Now it is quite clear
that private investigation activities are illegal in China.
However, the ban hasn’t checked the fast development of the private
investigation business in many Chinese cities. Many legal experts
are still debating the issue, and some have even questioned and
criticized the official ban.
Experts’ Opinions
Jiang Wei, director of the Civil Procuratorial Department of the
Supreme People’s Procuratorate, and tutor of doctoral students in
Renmin University of China, believes private investigation agencies
should be outlawed since they have violated the right of privacy of
those being investigated. He said the existence of private
investigators is associated with the Mafia and negative influences
from Western countries. Those who need private investigators are
usually people who have obtained a recent advantageous economic
status. People with an average or low income have no need for such
services, he said.
Jiang believes that the existence of private investigators may
cause many negative impacts, for instance, the infringement of
privacy and even the occurrence of tragic accidents. This is
because the infringement of people’s rights may lead to conflicts,
which could escalate into even bigger disputes, harming social
stability, said Jiang.
Zhou Jianian, a doctoral student at the Law School of Renmin
University, has traced the history of private detectives. He said
private detectives were popular in Western countries in the 18th
and 19th centuries because of an ambiguous understanding of the
role of the government in police issues. People believed that
private detectives were a good complement to the State police, and
that was why novels about detectives such as Sherlock Holmes gained
huge popularity at the time.
By
the 20th century, people’s understanding about the State changed
fundamentally. Government investigators’ role in punishing and
curbing crime, as well as enforcing laws, became prominent, and the
influence of private investigators waned. “Given this, I think it
represents an historical reverse to the promotion of private
investigation businesses in China,” said Zhou.
Yet some legal experts pointed out that China does have a demand
for private investigators, given the limited ability of judicial
departments in righting wrongs timely and completely, the chaotic
economic order and declining credibility of enterprises. In
addition, as a result of fast economic development, traditional
morals and ethics are being challenged in an unprecedented way. As
extramarital affairs and the keeping of a mistress cause great
social concern, and have actually been considered when revising the
Marriage Law, the demand for investigating the defaulting spouse is
on the rise. Meanwhile, these experts also believe that private
investigators may complement the government’s function.
Prof. Zhou Yuanbo, a prestigious civil law expert from Nanjing
University, suggested it is not appropriate to rush to a conclusion
on whether private investigators, still something new in China, are
good or not. As there are no Chinese laws in place to regulate the
private investigators’ behavior, he emphasized that they should
take legal approaches when collecting evidence. He also made it
clear that the court will not accept evidence collected by private
investigators, as there were still no laws legitimizing the
collection of evidence through such channels.
Many experts believe that private investigators are a double-edged
sword. If used properly, they can protect people’s rights and
interests; if not, they will harm personal privacy and the security
of the State and enterprises.
(Beijing
Review 09/05/2001)