Civil servants made up 50 percent of a total of 4,212 people who were prosecuted in China between January and October for taking commercial bribes, according to the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP).

"During the first ten months of this year 2,164 civil servants have been involved in commercial bribery cases," the SPP said.

From the start of the year China has attempted to clamp down on commercial bribery and cracked a series of high-profile cases. The former director of the Medical Apparatus Department under China's State Food and Drug Administration, Hao Heping, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on November 28 for taking bribes and illegal possession of firearms.

The Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court also sentenced Hao's wife, Fu Yuqing, to five years in prison for taking bribes.

The court found that Hao, 58, accepted 800,000 yuan (US$100,000) in bribes from four companies between 2002 and 2004 when he was director of the Medical Apparatus Department.

And in March 2004 a company gave Hao and Fu 200,000 yuan after the couple complained of not having enough money to renovate one of their apartments. Hao was also found to be in possession of five illegal air guns.?

Another notorious case involved Zheng Shide, vice director of Xuzhou Medical College, who took advantage of his post between 2000-2005 to seek illicit gain for others after receiving more than 500,000 yuan in bribes. Zheng was jailed for 11 years.

(Xinhua News Agency December 15, 2006)