26,500 investigated for duty-related crimes

Prosecuting authorities investigated 26,523 people suspected of duty-related crimes in the first five months, including seven officials at ministerial level.

They include 1,577 officials at or above county levels, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) revealed on Thursday. The figure is 33 percent more than that of 2013, when China's new leadership launched the sweeping anti-graft battle to trap "tigers" and "flies."

The number of people investigated for offering and taking bribes increased by seven percent.

Prosecutors punished 69 officials involved in an election fraud in central China's Hengyang city. They also investigated 397 suspects for possible criminality behind major accidents, including a tanker explosion in northwest China's Shanxi Province that killed at least 31 people. Eight officials were accused of dereliction of duty and abuse of power after the explosion.

The SPP helped police captured 264 duty-crime suspects in the first five months of this year.