Over 660,000 officials punished in five years

Anti-corruption bodies of the Communist Party of China (CPC) have punished more than 660,000 officials guilty of disciplinary violations in the past five years, senior leader He Guoqiang announced on Monday.

More than 24,000 officials were transferred to the judicial system for suspected crimes, said He, head of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Procuratorial and discipline inspection authorities across the country investigated more than 640,000 corruption cases from November 2007 to June this year. More than 630,000 of the cases have been resolved, according to He.

A series of major cases, including those involving former Chongqing Party chief Bo Xilai, former Railways Minister Liu Zhijun and former Shenzhen mayor Xu Zongheng, were relentlessly pursued, said He.

Investigating corruption cases is a long-term task in the process of building a clean government, said the head of the commission.

He urged institutions to put the "handling of disciplinary violation cases" at the top of the agenda and to always crackdown on corruption.

The corrupt ones, no matter who are involved, will be relentlessly followed and will never be given a chance of escaping punishment in accordance with Party discipline and the law, He said.

The head of the commission noted that improvements have been made in the way various departments cooperate to prevent corrupt officials fleeing to foreign countries and to strengthen overseas arrest.

He also urged anti-corruption authorities to learn and grasp the effective measures in the past five years to promote the combat against corruption and to build a clean party and government.