Corruption cases involving officials increased slightly in Shanghai last year, with most graft cases investigated occurring in state-owned companies, mainland media and prosecutors said yesterday.
Shanghai Municipal People's Procuratorate head Wu Guangyu told an annual session of the local legislature this week that the city saw 428 corruption cases involving 492 officials last year, compared with 402 cases involving 459 officials in 2004.
The mainland as a whole had more than 27,300 corruption cases involving 32,162 people in the first 11 months of last year, Xinhua said. The Communist Party and central government have made tackling corruption a priority, but authorities remain reluctant to go after high-level officials.
In Shanghai, there were 345 so-called 'major' cases involving bribes of at least 50,000 yuan or misusing public funds of at least 100,000 yuan, Mr Wu was quoted as saying, down from 355 in 2004.
Of the total number of cases, 69 involved officials holding posts above the department deputy head level including three people above the bureau level, he said, but gave no details.
Prosecutors detailed three big cases last year. In one, the former general manager of the Shanghai Wildlife Park was sentenced to seven years in jail for accepting gifts for awarding deals for animals and engineering projects.
