Over 23,000 prosecuted for duty-related crimes between Jan and Nov

China has continued its ceaseless battle against corruption, with over 23,000 people prosecuted for duty-related crimes between Jan and Nov 2024, up 33.9 percent year-on-year, an official from the country's top procuratorate said.

During the period, the Supreme People's Procuratorate accepted cases of 45 officials, and guided local prosecutors to indicate 42 of them on duty-related charges, including 30 individuals who worked at provincial-level positions, according to Zhang Xiaojin, head of the SPP's division on duty crimes.

Among them, Sun Zhigang, former Party chief of Guizhou province, was charged with bribery in May and was eventually sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for taking bribes worth more than 813 million yuan ($113.9 million) in October.

Zhang revealed that in the first 11 months of last year, China also strengthened the effort against corruption in the fields of finance, State-owned enterprise, energy and infrastructure construction, all showing a significant year-on-year increase.

Additionally, thanks to the ongoing endeavor in carrying out the Sky Net, an anti-corruption campaign on pursuing fugitives and retrieving ill-gotten gains, Chinese prosecutors approved the arrest of 21 corrupt officials who fled overseas as of Dec 15, 2024, according to Zhang.

He added that 12 of them had been prosecuted for duty-related crimes, including eight listed as Red Notice fugitives.