7 ministerial-level officials probed in 2011

BEIJING - Seven ministeral-level officials were investigated for suspected embezzlement or bribery in China last year, according to nation's procurator-general on Sunday.

Prosecutors nationwide investigated a total of 2,524 officials above the county head-level, with 198 at the prefectural level and seven at the provincial or ministerial level, said Cao Jianming, China's procurator-general, while delivering a work report at the annual session of the National People's Congress.

China's procurator-general Cao Jianming delivers a report on the work of the Supreme People's Procuratorate at a meeting of the annual parliamentary session on Sunday. [Photo/Xinhua]

The prosecutors took a hard line on civil servants who abuse their power for personal gains or take bribes, investigating 7,366 people in the administrative law enforcement and 2,395 in the judiciary system, said Cao.

He said efforts were intensified last year to crack down on crimes of offering bribes, prosecuting 4,217 bribers, a year-on-year increase of 6.2 percent.

International judicial cooperation was enhanced as well, he said, retrieving a total of 7.79 billion yuan of illicit assets and leading to the arrest of 1,631 fugitive suspects of work-related crimes.

Cao said greater emphasis was also put to the combination of punitive and preventive measures in 2011, with procuratorates at all levels launching extensive publicity campaigns to prevent work-related crimes.

He said this year the procuratorates will severely crack down on work-related crimes among officials, crimes seriously violating people's economic, personal and democratic rights, as well as cases involving construction projects, real-estate development, environment pollution and food safety.

In a separate report to the parliamentary session Sunday, China's chief justice Wang Shengjun said courts nationwide convicted 29,000 people for embezzlement, bribery and malfeasance last year, "further deepening the anti-corruption drive."