The police investigation into a recent leak of English test papers of the national graduate school entrance exam had made great progress, said Minister of Education Yuan Guiren.

While attending a meeting with CPPCC members from the education field on Wednesday, Yuan said the ministry would make the investigation results public soon.

"Any students or education officials found being involved in the scandal will be seriously punished according to relevant laws and regulations," he said, responding to CPPCC member Ge Jianxiong's inquiry.

The ministry has screened all of the papers and will target mainly candidates suspected of cheating in the exam for the coming interviews on English proficiency, he added.

He also revealed that more than 5,000 candidates were caught cheating during the English exam on Jan 8. More than 1.65 million people sat the national exam between Jan 7 and Jan 9.

Answers to the test papers began to circulate online before the English exam, previous reports said. Ge Jianxiong, a professor at Fudan University, however, said he was only half satisfied with the minister's reply.

"He should have made a formal apology to all of the candidates who took part in the exam.

"No matter where the problem lies, the ministry surely had some responsibility for the leak," he said.