Chinese Prosecutors Nabs 104 High-ranking OfficialsProcuratorial bodies across China investigated 104 high-ranking cadres at or above the mayoral or department head level in the first eight months this year, four of whom held ministerial rank, a senior prosecutor said Thursday.The most high-profile corruption cases include the ongoing smuggling scandal now on trial in Xiamen in Fujian province and the bribery case involving Li Jizhou, former vice-minister of public security, Zhao said at a press conference in Beijing. Li's case was officially made public today by Zhao, deputy procurator-general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, who said the former vice-minister is charged with accepting a "huge" amount of bribes. According to Zhao, Chinese prosecutors investigated more than 23,000 corruption cases in the January-August period, and helped to recover 1.587 billion yuan of economic losses for the state. The number of major corruption cases which involved at least 50,000 yuan in embezzlement or 100,000 yuan in misuse of funds was on the rise in the eight months, he said. They accounted for 43.7 percent of the total cases handled by prosecutors, exceeding the figures for the same time in 1999 by 10,000 cases, a 12.7 percent rise. Of those cases, more than 800 involved illegal use of money and goods worth over 1 million yuan, which registered an increase of 11.7 percent over last year, Zhao said. Another noticeable feature of this year's anti-corruption drive is that the number of bribees increased sharply by 30.6 percent, up to 6,200 in the number of cases, the senior prosecutor said. |
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