Authorities in Shenzhen, the fast growing southern China city neighboring Hong Kong, handled 168 corruption cases involving 190 officials in the year 2000 and retrieved some 281 million yuan (US$33.86 million) of embezzled funds or money used as bribes.
As the country's earliest economic zone, the city has tightened the discipline inspection of officials. Among the officials that were removed from their posts last year were a former deputy mayor, a former customs director and a land resources official.
Zhang Gaoli, secretary of the Shenzhen City Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), recently asked the committee's commission for discipline inspection to make full use of its supervision function, and differentiate mistakes from corruption.
(Xinhua 01/31/01)