BEIJING -- A draft amendment to the Criminal Law, submitted for the first reading by national lawmakers on Tuesday, has stepped up criminal penalties on bribers and corruption inside private firms.

The draft was submitted to the fourth session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC).

It adds six severe offenses related to bribing, said Wang Aili, chief of the criminal law department of the Commission of Legislative Affairs of the NPC Standing Committee, explaining the bill to the press.

For instance, those who repeatedly offer bribes, offer bribes to more than one person and to state functionaries, will be given severer penalties, Wang said.

Offering bribes to those involved in the country's key work areas, major national projects, or programs will be severe offenses.

The revision also raises the penalty levels on bribers that are institutions and those offering bribes to institutions.

Reckless attempts made by bribers to "hunt" officials remain a main cause of corruption, Wang said.

In China's judicial practices, bribers tend to face lighter penalties than those taking bribes, and the number of cases prosecuting bribers is fewer than those prosecuting grafters. Such lenient policies do not help curb corruption, Wang said.

The legislature expects law enforcement and judicial agencies to change their working strategy that focuses more on grafters than bribers, Wang added.

Regarding the revision of the provisions on crimes related to corruption inside private enterprises, Wang noted that the revision targets the behaviors of personnel in key positions inside private enterprises that infringe on the interests of enterprises and entrepreneurs due to graft.

Wang said that in recent years, the most prominent manifestations of corruption within private enterprises include embezzlement, misappropriation, bribery, and the breach of trust.

The revision of the Criminal Law adds provisions concerning intentional breach of trust by private-enterprise staff to harm the interests of enterprises, Wang said.

Enterprise staff's illegal operation of the same type of business, illegally profiting for friends and relatives, and practicing irregularities for selfish ends by converting companies' assets to shares at a low price or selling them at a low price are defined as crimes in the draft revision, Wang went on to explain.

The revision further strengthens the equal protection of private enterprises by extending provisions currently applicable to relevant personnel in state-owned companies and enterprises to the staff of private enterprises, Wang noted.

The revision also further improves the crime system related to infringement on the property of private companies, including duty encroachment, embezzlement of funds, and other crimes already stipulated in the existing Criminal Law, as well as three crimes of breaching trust added by the draft revision, Wang said.