CPPCC member and economist Justin Yifu Lin on CPPCC session, March 5. [Photo/CFP]

Where does money seized from corruption cases go?

"What happened to the confiscated money or property from corrupt officials? Since the money came from tax payers, is it possible that we return it to them, like to invest into rural education or pollution control?" Tian Zhongqun, a CPPCC member and Xiamen University professor asked at a panel discussion on Thursday afternoon.

CPPCC member and economist Justin Yifu Lin responded that the seized valuables will be redirected to the projects that the money should originally have gone to, or to other similar projects.

"Someone may say, like, companies bribe officials using their own money. That is private money, why should it go to public funds if it's seized? Let's take infrastructure construction as an example. The builders may bribe officials, but they will save the money from the construction fund that the government gave them. They are eating into the government budget for infrastructure construction," Lin said.

"Although we can't hand out the money to people, by fighting corruption, we can guarantee that money appropriated from each field is well spent, instead of falling into individuals' hands," Lin added.