Chinese Prosecutors Recover State Funds 　　Chinese prosecutors recovered 4.38 billion yuan in direct economic losses for the state and collective enterprises as a result of the anti-corruption campaign carried out in 1998, according to a senior prosecutor. 　　Prosecutors "focused on major and important corruption cases" during the year, said Zhao Dengju, deputy procurator-general of China's Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP). 　　Standards for so-called "major cases" include bribery involving over 50,000 yuan and the misappropriation of 100,000 yuan or more in public funds. Important cases, on the other hand, refer to corruption involving officials at and above the county level. 　　Statistics show that prosecutors investigated 9,389 "major cases" and 1,820 "important cases" in 1998. 　　Zhao noted that prosecutors also joined law- enforcement agencies in investigations involving smuggling and illegal foreign exchange transactions. 　　Prosecutors intensified the campaign against corruption and dereliction of duty as part of an effort to help promote the reform of state-owned enterprises, as well as the financial, grain, housing and medical care systems. 　　A number of officials were prosecuted for selling government positions. Zhao specifically cited the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region where corrupt officials sold positions as "assistant mayors" to managers and owners of private businesses. 　　Prosecutors also investigated a number of cases involving embezzlement of disaster relief funds earmarked for the victims of last summer's record flooding in the areas along the Yangtze River and Songhua and Nenjiang rivers in Northeast China. HomeNews 1999-01-21 Page4 Full Story in Chinese