A senior Chinese official warned on Friday that vigilant efforts to crackdown on corruption will continue and those found guilty will face punishment.

He Guoqiang, member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Political Bureau, said the Party would "never let pass and tolerate corrupt elements" while addressing a national conference in Beijing.

He, who heads the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, said the Party would continue its efforts to deal with corruption cases and sternly investigate and punish criminal cases involving "collusion between officials and merchants, trading of money and sex with official powers, and severe infringement of people's interests."

Many senior officials have been found guilty of serious corruption, including the former director of the National Bureau of Statistics Qiu Xiaohua, the former food and drug administration head Zheng Xiaoyu and former Party head of Shanghai Chen Liangyu.

Last year alone, more than 90,000 officials were disciplined, which accounted for 0.14 percent of the total number of the CPC members.

The national conference was attended by discipline inspectors assigned to government departments and large state companies by the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and the Ministry of Supervision.

Mr. He urged the discipline officials to deepen the current anti-corruption campaign in places where they were watching over.

The top disciplinarian called for substantial efforts to supervise and inspect the implementation of the Party's political discipline in these institutions and firmly correct and punish activities against the scientific concept of development. This was to ensure that major decisions and arrangements of the central authorities were effectively implemented.

He Yong, a member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and CCDI deputy secretary, presided over the meeting.

(Xinhua News Agency December 29, 2007)
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