China's intensified efforts to weed out corrupt officials were reflected in two work reports delivered yesterday to the ongoing annual session of the National People's Congress, officials pointed out in Beijing.
The country's court system handed down jail terms to six provincial and ministerial officials on corruption charges, noted Xiao Yang, chief justice and president of the Supreme People's Court, in a report to China's legislature.
The convicted government officials included Tian Fengshan, former minister of land and resources; Liu Fangren, former secretary of the Communist Party of China's Guizhou Provincial Committee; and Zhang Guoguang, former deputy secretary of the CPC's Hubei Provincial Committee and governor of the province. They were given penalties ranging from 11 years to life imprisonment.
The chief justice said the court system penalized 772 corrupt officials and dealt with 24,184 cases involving graft, bribe-taking and other corrupt activities in 2004.
In his report, China's top prosecutor Jia Chunwang said that 11 officials at the provincial government or ministerial level were investigated on corruption charges last year.
They were among the 2,960 officials at or above county level who were probed for taking bribes and misuse of public funds last year, said Jia.
The issue of corrupt officials is much on the minds of the Chinese public.
According to an online survey conducted by Xinhuanet.com concerning the topics likely to spark heated discussions at this year's sessions of the NPC and its chief advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a quarter of the nearly 200,000 respondents said "putting an end to corruption" was a great concern, ranking second among the 20 listed choices.
"Corruption damages the interests of the people and the close links between the Party and the people, weakens the governance base and capability of the Party, affects social stability and disturbs the general situation of reform, development and stability," Premier Wen Jiaobao said at a recent State Council meeting.
At last year's NPC session, Wen vowed to take strong measures against graft, a pledge that elicited a long applause from the 2,000 lawmakers.