Wu Guanzheng, secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, reported on Tuesday that from December 2003 to November 2004 the commission settled 160,602 cases of cadre misconduct. It took disciplinary action against 164,831 Party members and transferred 4,775 serious offenders to the judiciary departments.

"We punish every rotten cadre we can find. No one can get away with corruption," said Wu, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. "We will never go soft on this issue."

Wu said the anti-corruption campaign last year focused on high-ranking officials who took bribes or allowed their spouses or children to take advantage of public resources in their private businesses.

The commission determined that Party officials misused 2.5 billion yuan (US$303.7 million) in public funds in 2004. Another 1.5 billion yuan (US$175.9 million) was used illegally to buy commercial insurance for staffers.

Wu said efforts were enhanced to wipe out corruption that infringes on the interests of disadvantaged people, such as farmers in land acquisition deals, urban residents in relocation projects, employees of state-owned firms in corporate regrouping and bankruptcy deals and migrant workers.

Although progress has been made, the commission report indicated that much remains to be done.

"Despite the achievements, our anti-graft campaign failed to effectively cover certain localities where corruption was rampant, and local people were dissatisfied because their interests were not properly protected," Wu said.

He vowed to increase efforts in the new year to stamp out corruption. "We will improve the system to uproot corruption," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency February 16, 2005)