Officials with $16m in properties investigated

Guangdong provincial capital authorities have set up special task forces to investigate two yiyuan cunguan, or the village officials whose properties were reported to reach more than 100 million yuan ($16 million) in value.

Mei Heqing, a senior official with Guangzhou Party Commission of Discipline Inspection, said the city's anti-graft body attaches great importance to investigating the two village heads who were reported to own more than 1 billion yuan and 300 million yuan worth of property.

But Mei did not reveal the names of the two village heads, who are from the city's Baiyun and Nansha districts .

"Corrupt cases involving local village officials have been on the rise in recent years," Mei said.

"Relevant departments have investigated 29 village officials in Renhe township in the city's Baiyun district in the first three months this year," he told a news conference on Monday.

The village officials that were investigated were suspected to have accepted bribes valued at more than 16 million yuan, Mei said.

"We must introduce concrete and effective measures to prevent and fight corruption involving village officials in the following months," he added.

The city's anti-graft body has investigated 156 corruption cases, involving 159 officials, including 37 at the county or above levels in the first three months of this year.