Prosecutors across the country approved the arrests of 891,620 criminal suspects and prosecuted 999,086 people in 2006, helping to create a sound legal environment for the country's economic and social development, China's top prosecutor said yesterday.

"We have continued to give priority to maintaining social stability and cracking down on criminal offenses," said Jia Chunwang, procurator-general of the Supreme People's Prosecutors' Office, in a report on the SPP's work during the past year.

To combat Mafia-like criminal organizations, prosecutors issued 18,446 arrest warrants for people suspected of involvement in such cliques, and prosecuted 8,343 such people, Jia told the nearly 3,000 law makers attending the annual full session of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature.

A number of government employees were investigated and punished for having served as a "safety umbrella" for the criminal cliques, Jia said, without giving the specific number.

Prosecutors also strengthened judicial protection of intellectual property rights last year, approving the arrests of 3,729 people suspected of IPR violations and prosecuting 3,634.

Prosecutors also approved the arrests of 7,974 people suspected of damaging the environment and resources, and prosecuted 12,240, a 24.8 percent increase in prosecutions from the previous year, said Jia.

He said 40,041 government employees were probed by prosecutors last year in connection to 33,669 cases involving corruption, bribery and dereliction of duty, of whom 29,966 were charged.

Prosecutors also investigated 18,241 major job-related criminal cases, 623 of them involving graft and bribery of more than one million yuan (US$128,000).

In a report on the work of the Supreme People's Court, top judge Xiao Yang said Chinese courts sentenced 825 government officials above the county level, including nine provincial- and ministerial-level officials, after convicting them of job-related crimes last year.

They also collaborated with the police to apprehend 1,670 fugitives suspected of job-related crimes in 2006, Jia said.