Han Zhubin, procurator-general of China's Supreme People's Procuratorate, yesterday outlined the task facing China's 160,000 prosecutors at a national conference in Nanjing.

Han said prosecutors will continue their crackdown on dereliction of duty and graft by government officials.

They will also investigate bribes, perverting the course of justice and extracting confessions by torture, said Han.

Inquiries into bribes was previously an area not often investigated by prosecutors.

Han pledged that there will be more effort to weed out corruption in the new year, following the establishment of a new department this summer to carry out the work.

"In particular, prosecutors will work with financial, securities, medical, judicial, commercial, tax and construction departments, as well as customs and State-owned enterprises, to prevent graft," said Han.

China's anti-corruption campaign gathered steam this year after former vice-governor of Jiangxi Province, Hu Changqing, and former vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Cheng Kejie, were executed for corruption.

Last month, 14 officials were also sentenced to death by courts in East China's Fujian Province for their role in the Yuanhua smuggling case, the largest such incident in China since 1949.

Statistics released by the Supreme People's Procuratorate yesterday indicate that between January and November, prosecutors investigated nearly 43,000 cases of corruption, recouping 3.67 billion yuan (US$442 million).

Among these cases, 1,270 involved funds of more than 1 million yuan (US$120,000). More than 2,700 officials at county and division level were investigated during the period.

To back up their more effective crackdown on corruption, procuratorates nationwide will forge ahead with reforms so as to guarantee justice and higher efficiency next year, according to Han.

The reforms will include the appointment of more chief prosecutors and the use of modern technology.

A new round of nationwide training programs has been implemented among China's prosecutors in order to improve standards. Prosecutors now need to pass a national examination before being given a job.

(China Daily12/22/2000)