2,723 corrupt officials investigated in China in 2010
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China investigated 2,723 corrupt officials at or above the county level in 2010, including 188 at the prefecture level and six at the ministerial level, Procurator-General Cao Jianming said Friday.
Prosecutors arrested 1,282 fugitives with work-related crimes in 2010 and recovered illicit money and goods worth of 7.4 billion yuan (112.5 million U.S. dollars), Cao said in a report delivered at the ongoing annual parliamentary session.
Prosecutors investigated 44,085 people in 32,909 work-related crimes in 2010, respectively registering a year-on-year increase of 6.1 percent and 1.4 percent, he said.
China will target corruption and officials' misconduct behind major accidents and "mass incidents", usually referring to protests and illegal gatherings, in its graft probe in 2011, he said.
Prosecutors will focus on investigating and handling crimes by leading government organs and officials for corruption, malfeasance and duty dereliction this year, Cao said.
Work-related crimes in "key sectors and links", misconduct such as power abuse and corruption by officials in grassroots administrations, and officials who serve as "protective umbrella" for mafia-style gangs and evil forces would be targeted in prosecutors' tougher fight against corruption this year, he said.
Cao also pledged to continue severe crackdown on commercial bribery crimes and prevent and reduce work-related crimes.
Han Deyun, a deputy to the National People's Congress, the parliament, called China's endeavor to tackle corruption "a systematic project that requires extensive participation."
"From what I have observed, the (Chinese Communist) Party and government have taken concrete steps to combat graft, as demonstrated by the downfall of a number of high-ranking officials in the past year," he said.
"The effort to tackle corruption is critical to consolidating the political basis for the Communist Party of China," said Shi Jie, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the political advisory body.
Graft remains one of the Chinese people's top concerns, as indicated by online polls from mainstream media outlets in China prior to the country's annual parliamentary and political advisory sessions, opened on March 5 and March 3 respectively.
To address corruption, China would effectively develop the system for preventing and punishing corruption, Premier Wen Jiabao said in the government work report delivered to legislators at the parliamentary session.
China would also make investigating and handling large and major corruption cases an important measure in fighting corruption while paying closer attention to institutional development, Wen said.
China has never and should not slack its efforts to fight corruption as graft, if it becomes rampant, would hinder the country's economic development, undermine social stability and harm the relationship between the people and officials, experts say.
Among the high-ranking Chinese officials placed under a graft probe or removed from their posts in the past months was Zhang Jiameng, former vice chairman of the Standing Committee of Zhejiang Provincial People's Congress in eastern China, and Zhang Jingli, former deputy director of the State Food and Drug Administration.
The latest ministerial-level official implicated in a corruption scandal is Liu Zhijun, who was removed from his post as minister of railways in late February for alleged "severe violations of discipline".
