The Communist Party of China (CPC) has warned that cadres who gamble or are involved in illegal property deals would be the focus of an intensified crackdown on corruption.

A communique released yesterday after a plenary session of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) also warned against embezzlement and fraud in the management of State-owned enterprises.

In the communiqu, Party members said they would intensify the fight against corruption and continue the building of a "clean" Party.

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The seventh plenary session of the CCDI, which ended yesterday, reviewed the work of the past year and outlined plans for anti-corruption and Party building work for this year.

The communique said the CPC had made progress last year in building a clean Party and fighting against corruption, especially where it involved commercial bribery. The release also highlighted efforts to detect and punish corrupt officials.

The communique said the Party should realize that the fight against corruption would be a long-term, complicated and arduous one.

Members should take a more resolute attitude and pursue tougher measures to create a favorable political atmosphere for the convention of the 17th National Congress of the CPC this year, said the communique.

Discipline inspection commissions at all levels have been told to step up their inspection and supervision in areas that have a direct bearing on people's interests, promote a truth-seeking and down-to-earth style of work and oppose bureaucratism and formalism among Party members.

The communique urged Party members to be frugal and oppose extravagance and waste.

The fight against corruption should be intensified so that leading cadres at all levels can improve their ability to lead people in the building of a harmonious socialist society, the communique said.

Officials who use their influence to buy commercial housing at prices far below market costs, occupy and use borrowed houses and vehicles but fail to return them, take part in gambling or seek illicit money from activities like gambling, seek illegal profits by using agents to invest in the stock market, or seek other forms of illegal earnings for themselves and their relatives and friends will be seriously dealt with, the communique said.

The Party said it would crack down on money-for-power favors, illegal loans and exemptions, illegal investments or authorizations of mining projects, the misuse of assets in State-run reorganizations, illegal earnings through the misuse of land and unauthorized changes in land planning, and cheating in government public tenders.

Laws and regulations governing market competition should be improved, and a long-term mechanism against commercial bribery established, said the communique.

The production of fake or inferior-quality food and drugs will be targeted, as will illegal price rises in agriculture-related products. Production safety will be a priority, as will the fight against illegal pollution discharges by factories, said the communique.

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