The Communist Party of China's anti-corruption agencies have punished more than 660,000 officials found guilty of disciplinary violations in the past five years, senior leader He Guoqiang announced on Monday.

More than 24,000 officials were transferred to the judicial system for suspected crimes, said He, head of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Procuratorial and discipline inspection authorities across the country investigated in excess of 640,000 corruption cases from November 2007 to June this year. More than 630,000 of the cases have been resolved, according to He.

A series of major cases, including those involving former Chongqing Party chief Bo Xilai, former railways minister Liu Zhijun and former Shenzhen mayor Xu Zongheng, were relentlessly pursued, he said.

Investigating corruption cases is a long-term task in the process of building a clean government, he added.

He urged institutions to put the "handling of disciplinary violation cases" at the top of the agenda and to always crack down on corruption.

Corrupt individuals, no matter who they are, will be followed relentlessly and will never escape punishment in accordance with Party discipline and the law, He said.

The head of the commission said improvements have been made in the way departments cooperate to prevent corrupt officials fleeing to foreign countries and to make it easier to return people who have done so.

He also urged anti-corruption authorities to use measures developed in the past five years to combat corruption and build a clean Party and government.

(China Daily 10/09/2012 page2)