A total of 4,212 people, 50 percent of which were civil servants, were prosecuted in China between January and October for accepting commercial bribes, according to the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP).

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

From the beginning of 2006, China has clamped down on commercial bribery and cracked a series of high-profile cases. The former director of the Medical Apparatus Department under the State Food and Drug Administration, Hao Heping, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Nov. 28 for bribe-taking 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 graft.

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

In March 2004, a company gave Hao and Fu 200,000 yuan after the couple complained of lacking 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 abused his authority from 2000 to 2005 to seek illicit gains for others after receiving more than 500,000 yuan in bribes. Zheng was removed from his post and condemned to 11 years in jail.

(Xinhua News Agency December 15, 2006)