Prosecutors considerably up-scaled investigations of major and serious job-related crimes during the first five months of the year, the country's top prosecutor said Wednesday.

The numbers of major cases, each of which involves 50,000 yuan ($7,288) or more in bribes and 100,000 yuan or more in embezzlement, and of serious cases involving county- and higher- level officials have increased by 14.5 and 9.2 percent respectively year-on-year.

During this period, 16,725 job-related crimes - up 8.3 percent - involving 20,294 people - up 9.6 percent year-on-year - have been investigated in procuratorates nationwide, Cao Jianming, procurator-general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, said.

"We will intensify investigation of job-related crimes among leading government agencies and leading officials," Cao said at a work conference.

"We must resolutely deal with cases of bribery and corruption as well as dereliction of duty among officials, who usually collude with merchants in money-for-power deals and severely damage public interests," he added.

Cao stated that the crackdown on corruption during the latter half of the year would emphasize malpractices involving abuse of privilege as regards personnel, judiciary, legal enforcement and administrative procedures.

Prosecutors will in addition keep a close watch out for commercial bribery in project construction, land requisition, property right transaction, medical and pharmaceutical purchases and sales, and government procurement.

Cao said there would also be stricter supervision of agriculture-related crimes.

As the majority of China's 1.3 billion population lives in rural areas, cases of corruption have frequently been uncovered in the construction of village infrastructures as well as in management of funds specifically allocated to farmers in recent years.

In the meantime, prosecutorial departments will continue to deal severely with all criminal cases in order to ensure a peaceful Beijing Olympics and events commemorating the 30th anniversary of China's open-up and reform policy.

"We will remain vigilant and crack down on all infiltration, subversion and sabotage by hostile forces at home and abroad according to law, as well as on Mafia-like gang crime, violent crime, frequently-occurring property infringements and drug crime," the official said.

In the first five months of this year procuratorates have approved the arrest of 350,136 criminal suspects and prosecuted 388,204 suspects.

(China Daily July 10, 2008)