China punished 97,260 members of Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2006, amid a continuous campaign to fight graft and build a "clean" Party, the Party's discipline watchdog announced today.

Gan Yisheng, vice secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), told a press conference that among the CPC members punished, 3,530 had been handed over to prosecutors, including seven officials at or above the governor and minister level.

Gan said over 80 percent of the officials punished were found disturbing public affairs administration, taking bribes, violating the Party's financial and economic rules, and dereliction of duty.

He said the officials who did not abide by the Party's rules ormade mistakes only accounted for 0.14 percent of the nearly 7 million CPC members. "The ratio is very low, and it means most of the Party cadres are good," Gan said.

China's widely publicized anti-graft fight has led to the downfall of a number of high-profile corrupt officials in recent months, including Shanghai's former Party chief Chen Liangyu, also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

Gan said the investigation of Chen's case "is going smoothly" and the probe results will be publicized at a proper time.

There were 1,269 Party officials found taking bribes, securities and payment certificates worth a total of 54.48 million yuan (US$7 million), Gan said, adding that 5,754 cadres were found engaging in gambling.

Forty-five of them, Gan said, had gambled in overseas casinos.