473 Chongqing officials prosecuted

Local prosecutors in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality prosecuted 473 people for criminal behavior while in public office in the first four months of this year as it vowed to further to crack down on the abuse of power.

The 473 people, including 71 officials at county level and above, were indicted in 376 individual cases, 70 percent of which were in areas regarding people's well-being, according to a statement at the municipal government's official website.

"This year with the municipal government increasing its investment in areas important to people's well-being, we will increase our scrutiny on the key segments," an official from the People's Procuratorate of Chongqing Municipality was quoted by local media as saying.

The local authority said it had no further comment to make regarding the cases.

The most high-ranking of the officials prosecuted was Jia Jinming, the former deputy inspector of the municipal police, who is facing allegations of abuse of power and bribery.

Records on the official website of the municipal government shows that Jia rose from the police chief of Fuling district in the municipality to become political commissar of the municipal police's public transportation section in 2008.

He was then promoted to deputy inspector of the municipal police, a symbolic position of equivalent rank to the deputy police chief, in 2010.