Heroes or zeros?

Almost all those arrested for theft sought to receive reduced sentences by plea bargaining for information about officials. Very few of them succeeded, The Beijing News reported in August.

There is no legal basis to provide a reduced sentence to suspects even if they aid in anti-corruption campaigns, law experts explain.

Tian Wenchang, director of the Criminal Law Committee of the All-China Lawyers Association, told the newspaper that just because burglary and corruption are both crimes, they do not offset each other.

"Robin Hood stole from the rich to help the poor. Those thieves did not follow the same path," read a commentary published in the Xinhua Daily Telegraph in August.

The commentary argued if the suspects had not been caught by police and stood trial, they would have never aided anti-graft officials.

"They stole from alleged corrupt officials not because they wanted to contribute to the anti-graft campaign, but because they wanted easy money and have their crimes covered up," the commentary said.

"The law should not give a pass to thieves who give corruption tip-off as it will encourage burglary," Li Yongzhong, an anti-graft specialist, told The Beijing News.

Li added that anti-corruption campaign should rely more on corruption prevention systems rather than sheer luck.

Other experts suggested that Chinese authorities should require all officials to register their property and assets.

The reason why thieves target officials is because the officials keep their assets secret, according to a commentary on Beijing-based news portal gmw.cn in September.

"If officials were ordered to disclose their assets, anti-graft investigators could spot corruption before these so-called Robin Hoods," read the commentary.