China fighting official corruption

BEIJING, March 11 (UPI) -- Some 41,000 Chinese officials were investigated for crimes ranging from embezzlement to dereliction of duty last year, the country's chief prosecutor says.

Prosecutor-General Cao Jianming told parliament the suspects include former vice presidents of the Supreme People's Court and the state-run China Development Bank, China's official Xinhua news agency reported Thursday.

Also on the list of high-ranking officials was a former top political adviser of southern Guangdong Province and a former provincial official in eastern Zhejiang province.

Cao said more than 9,300 government workers were implicated in cases of dereliction of duty, malfeasance and infringement of people's rights.

Nearly 3,200 workers were punished "to strengthen (a) crackdown on bribery offering crimes," he said.

Statistics supplied by the Ministry of Commerce indicate some 4,000 corrupt Chinese officials have left China with $50 billion in the past 30 years.