Chinese procuratorates have approved the arrest of 20,425 suspects for economic crimes last year, up 6.3 percent on a year-on-year basis, according to a report here Wednesday.
 
Jia Chunwang, procurator-general of China's Supreme People's Procuratorate (CSPP), disclosed the figure in his report to the ongoing annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature.
  
According to the report, 21,440 suspects were prosecuted on charges such as smuggling, tax evasion and dodging, and financial fraud, up 3.4 percent year-on-year. 

(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2005)