Prosecutors investigated 6,953 officials suspected of abuse and dereliction of duty in the first nine months of this year, up 2.6 percent on the same period last year, the Supreme People's Procuratorate  (SPP) announced Tuesday.
   
Since June, the country's top prosecuting authority has launched a nationwide campaign to crack down on officials who abuse their power, and its efforts have paid off, SPP's deputy procurator-general Wang Zhenchuan said at a press conference.
   
A total of 1,780 officials were found to have been involved in 1,456 cases of abuse of power or negligence, said Wang.
   
The initiative aims to prevent officials from violating the legitimate rights and interests of common Chinese people and reduce the chance of such occurrences being repeated.
   
It focuses on cases involving illegal detainment and search, obtaining evidence and prosecuting crimes through illegal means, election fraud and mistreating detainees, as well as neglect of duty that leads to loss of life or money.
   
Bai Qixiang and Li Tingjun, vice-directors of Zhoupeng Division of Fuyang Industrial and Commercial Bureau's Yinquan Branch in Anhui Province, were among those who have been investigated in the crackdown.
   
They were given 24 months and 30 months imprisonment respectively in August after the local procuratorate took them to court in July.
   
The two were accused of dereliction in dealing with local people's complaints about a seller of poor quality milk powder, which led to a child's death. Besides taking bribes, Bai was also found to have forged legal documents to cover the truth.
   
Most of the investigated officials are from administrative or judicial departments at local level, said SPP's spokesman Zhang Zhongfang.
   
"Some officials in grassroots organizations were found to have poor awareness with regards to respecting and protecting people's rights; they had poor leadership qualities and dealt with their work in a simple and violent way," Zhang said.
   
Additional efforts will be made to find officials involved in cases arising from land acquisition, house resettlement, reform of state-owned enterprises as well as production and sale of fake and inferior food and medicine, he said.
   
Letters of complaint about officials' illegal behavior often poured into his office, Wang said, adding that he received more than 1,700 letters from June to September.
   
"I feel heartbroken about the suffering resulting from some officials' malfeasance," he said. His procuratorate will also strengthen partnerships with administrative enforcement departments and intensify crackdowns on related cases.
   
SPP is working to map out guidelines in collaboration with the National Audit Office to help the two departments work closely together. They are also negotiating with the State Administration of Work Safety to hold officials who neglect their duties regarding workplace accidents accountable.

(China Daily October 27, 2004))