38.7b yuan in State assets recovered in campaign

Billions of yuan have been retrieved from corrupt officials since a sweeping anti-graft campaign began in late 2012.

Anti-corruption departments nationwide recovered 38.7 billion yuan ($6.2 billion) in financial losses between November 2012 and June this year, according to Han Jinping, an official at the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Han, who runs the division overseeing the progress of cases, said on Wednesday that the former officials' ill-gotten fortunes were confiscated, and other material losses were recovered and compensated according to Party rules and regulations.

"The commission has issued rules to manage the bribes found during the investigation of cases, and several departments of the commission have their separate roles in the work," Han said.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in late 2012, the leadership has emphasized rooting out rampant corruption, including that of "tigers" - officials with high ranks - and "flies" at lower levels.

The biggest tiger snared so far is Zhou Yongkang, 72, China's former security chief, who was sentenced to life imprisonment last month for bribery, leaking State secrets and abusing power. He was the highest-ranking official brought down since China's reform and opening up in the 1970s.

Since the beginning of this year, the anti-graft campaign has gathered steam, with minor infractions of Party rules also being punished.

More than 19,000 officials were reprimanded for violating austerity rules in the first six months of this year, bringing the number of those punished since late 2012 to more than 120,000.

Violations included using official vehicles for personal errands, providing illegal subsidies and holding extravagant receptions, weddings and funerals.

Early this month, the top anti-corruption authority also intensified its efforts in more sectors as it sent inspectors to examine 26 State agencies and State-owned enterprises.

The organizations under scrutiny include the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office and China Resources Corp, ranked number 143 in the Fortune Global 500 list of the world's top corporations as measured by revenue.

During the commission's first round of disciplinary inspections this year, 26 State-owned enterprises were targeted, almost double the number of previous inspections. Around 20 top managers of SOEs have been held for corruption charges.

zhang_yi@chinadaily.com.cn