China uncovered 7,450 commercial and industrial bribery cases last year, involving 2.12 billion yuan (US$303 million), Xinhua learnt at a working conference on Saturday.

In all, 891 bribery cases were inspected and dealt with in medicine sales and the purchasing fields, with 58.06 million yuan of the total 375 million yuan confiscated. Two cases were prosecuted in court.

Six commercial bribery cases occurred in the industrial and commercial sectors that involved government officials. They had been inspected and dealt with, said Shi Jianyuan, Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Communist Party of China (CPC) group leader.

China has been targeting corruption in industrial and commercial sectors since 2006, when prosecuting organs at all levels investigated 9,582 commercial bribery cases involving 1.5 billion yuan in illicit money.

In recent years, the country has seen an increase in commercial bribery cases in fields such as construction, land acquisition, ownership transfer of state-owned enterprises, government procurement, purchasing and medicine sales, bank lending, commercial insurance, publishing, electrical power, sports and environmental protection, among others.

"China vows to crackdown on commercial bribery activities," Shi said." Industries and individuals who violate related rules and regulations will face strict punishments."

(Xinhua News Agency February 24, 2008)