BEIJING - Prosecutors have opened an investigation into five officials for suspected of bribery and embezzlement, said the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) Monday.

Two were senior executives of state-owned enterprises and the others worked for provincial governments, according to the SPP statement.

Liang Jingli, former president of state-owned Guangxi Liuzhou Iron and Steel Group, and Ma Linguo, former general manager of the Yinchuan branch of the State Grid Ningxia Electric Power Company, are suspected of taking bribes and embezzling public money.

The three former provincial officials are Luo Weiguo, former discipline chief of the department of land and resources with Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Gao Chongtong and Huang Quanfu, both former senior officials with the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region government, all accused of bribery.

They have been "placed under coercive measures," the statement said.

According to China's criminal procedure law, the coercive measures include summons by force, bail, residential surveillance, detention and arrest. The SPP did not specify which measures have been taken in these cases.