32 ministerial level officials probed in China for corruption

According to a SPP report nearly 1.49 lakh people have been convicted for graft from January 2008 to August 2013

At least 32 ministerial-level officials in China have been investigated for corruption from January 2008 to August 2013, the country's highest prosecuting agency said today.

Nearly 1.49 lakh people were convicted for graft during the same period, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) said in a report.

About 13,300 of the 198,781 people probed in graft cases during the period were officials at the county level and above, said Cao Jianming, procurator-general of the SPP.

Cao made the revelation while submitting the SPP's work report on embezzlement and bribery at the ongoing bi-monthly session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature.

About 1.67 lakh people were prosecuted under embezzlement and bribery charges while about 1.49 lakhs were convicted by courts during the period, Cao was quoted as saying by state news agency Xinhua.

Among those under investigation, a total of 65,629 civil servants have been investigated for taking bribes while 23,246 people were probed for handing bribes, Cao said.

The number of people convicted for taking bribes from 2008 to 2012 increased by 19.5 per cent over the period from 2003 to 2007, while the number of those convicted of handing bribes increased by 60.4 per cent, Cao's report said.

Of 1.51 lakh graft cases investigated in the past five years, about 4,800 cases involved bribes of at least 1 million yuan (USD 1.61 lakhs) or embezzlement of at least 10 million yuan, the report said.

The agencies also looked into embezzlement and bribery related to food safety, education, social security, health care, poverty reduction and environmental protection, which are areas the public cares about most, he added.