The Supreme People's Procuratorate has joined forces with nine departments of the State Council to combat malfeasance by government employees..

In a treaty of cooperation, all sides agree that cases of malfeasance will be transferred and crime clues provided timely between prosecutors and the government departments in order to crack down on crimes more efficiently.

The nine government bodies involved are the Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Land and Resources, General Administration of Customs, State Administration of Taxation, State Environmental Protection Administration, State Administration for Industry and Commerce, State Forestry Administration, State Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision, and the National Administration for the Protection of State Secrets.

Under the agreement that was signed recently, the government departments will transfer information on suspected dereliction of duty to procuratorates; and procuratorates will inform related government departments of crimes exposed by the public or found by procuratorates, so that the employees may be given disciplinary punishments or other penalties if they are exempted from criminal prosecution.

The crackdown upon malfeasance by government employees has been an important part of China's anti-corruption drive.

In the Criminal Law, amended in 1997, the steepest penalty for this crime was increased three-fold, from five years' imprisonment to 15.

Latest statistics show that procuratorates across the country investigated over 36,000 criminal cases involving misuse of government positions in the first 11 months last year.