In the first half of this year, almost 5,000 Party officials were punished for accepting "gift money" or gambling, said spokesman Gan Yisheng for the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Thursday.

Between January and June, 10,319 officials of different levels handed over, on their own initiative, items like cash and securities worth 62.46 million yuan (about US$7.7 million). 359 were disciplined for failing to do so.

In the same period, 4,627 officials were punished for involvement in gambling, which is illegal in China.

Central disciplinary inspectors were sent to check 20 provincial-level governments, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, and nine big banks.

On July 15, the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Ministry of Supervision started a website to receive complaints about officials.

To date, 12 provincial-level Party discipline inspection commissions and over 100 prefecture-level commissions have started similar websites.

(Xinhua News Agency August 26, 2005)