A total of 704 officials in Shanghai were punished in 2012 for administrative or Communist Party of China (CPC) discipline violations, local discipline authorities said Sunday.

Among the officials, 73 have been transferred to judicial authorities on suspicions of legal violations, according to a plenary session of the municipal disciplinary committee of the CPC.

Han Zheng, secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the CPC, said the public is most concerned about the issue of corruption, which is also the issue most harmful to the CPC.

Han, also a member of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, vowed to take substantial measures in the fight against corruption.