The state prosecutor's office in a poor county in north China raised money to build a lavish office and apartment building by arresting people and forcing them to pay illegal fines, state television reported.
The Focus Talk programme said Kedong county in Heilongjiang was one of the poorest in China, but the facilities used by the prosecutor were of a standard that his official budget could not cover.
It raised the extra money by arresting business people and detaining them, for up to eight months, until they and their family bought their release. Under China's constitution, a prosecutor has the right to detain people but not impose fines.
One of the unlucky victims was businessman Li Zhongcheng, who applied in 1997 for a licence to trade coal.
He was arrested for no reason and his family ordered to pay tens of thousands of yuan for his freedom.
They refused and he was held for eight months.
