China's judicial, procuratorial authorities resolute to fight corruption: reports

BEIJING -- China's judicial and procuratorial organs have maintained high pressure against corruption, figures unveiled Monday show.

At a plenary meeting of the fourth session of the 13th National People's Congress, two reports on the work of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) and the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) were delivered for deliberations.

A total of 22,000 cases of embezzlement, bribery and dereliction of duty involving 26,000 people were concluded in 2020, according to the SPC report.

Among the defendants who have been prosecuted were 12 former ministerial-level officials, including Zhao Zhengyong and Lai Xiaomin, it said.

Chinese courts have been in conjunction with related departments to pursue graft fugitives and recover illegal assets. The illegal assets totaling 1.15 billion yuan (177.5 million U.S. dollars) from 164 fugitives on the "red-notice" list were confiscated, according to the SPC report.

Chinese procuratorial organs also fulfilled their duties and responsibilities in the fight against corruption, according to the SPP report.

Efforts have been made to pursue fugitives and recover illegal assets, and the procedure of trial in absentia was adopted for the first time, it said.