Over 1.11 million officials probed for corruption in China

Chinese prosecutors are probing more than 1.11 million officials besides over 8.30 lakh enterprises for complaints of corruption as President Xi Jinping stepped up his anti-graft drive invoking Mao Zedong's similar campaign decades ago.
Chinese prosecutors received more than six lakh inquiries about bribery records involving companies or individuals in the first six months registering a 76.5 per cent rise from the same period last year, the Chinese Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) said in a statement.
More than 8.30 lakh enterprises, institutions and more than 1.11 million individuals were inquired, state-run China Daily quoted the SPP as saying.
The SPP has targeted construction projects, government procurement, public resources use, bank loans, the purchase of pharmaceutical and medical equipment, transportation, commerce, and personnel management, the report said.

Meanwhile, Xi invoked Mao's austerity drive six decades ago to advance his anti-graft drive to cleanse the party during a visit last week to the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) headquarters.
Xi, who took over the leadership of the ruling Communist Party of China, the military and President from Hu Jintao early this year, came up with "six nos" barring officials from hosting birthday parties and exchanging presents.

Xi likened party members' efforts to meet the guidelines to a student going through rigid exams - they had failed to shape up.
He said his campaign to rid the party of "formalism, bureaucratism and hedonism and extravagance" would help them make the grade.

He is on a tour to to push his year-long "mass line" campaign, which is designed to bolster the party's ties to the people amid growing discontent over corruption.
Unveiled in April, the campaign obliges officials from the county level or higher to "reflect on their own practices and correct any misbehaviour" in accordance with public sentiment.