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BEIJING. — China’s judicial authorities yesterday said the country will continue to maintain “high pressure” on corruption as authorities press on with a sweeping anti-graft drive.

A total of 22 Chinese ex-officials at ministerial level or above, including former leader Zhou Yongkang, were prosecuted last year while 41 were subject to formal investigations, up from 28 in 2014, Procurator-General Cao Jianming told lawmakers when presenting the Supreme People’s Procuratorate’s (SPP) work report for 2015.

Chief Justice Zhou Qiang also said Zhou and 15 other senior officials had been put on trial, showcasing “the party and the country’s resolute determination to crack down on corruption”.

More than three years into the corruption campaign that targets both “tigers” and “flies”, the terms assigned to different officials depending on their ranks and levels of corruption, there is little sign of losing momentum.

Just earlier this month, the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced an investigation into Wang Min, vice chairman of the Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), for suspected violation of party codes of conduct.

According to the SPP work report, almost 80 former Chinese officials at ministerial level or above had been investigated in the three years between 2013 and 2015.

“We will continue to maintain high pressure on corruption,” Chief Justice Zhou said.

All in all, 54 249 officials were investigated for their involvement in 40 834 graft cases in 2015, according to Procurator-General Cao. The figures represent a slight drop from the year before, when 55 101 officials were probed in 41 487 cases. They include 4 568 officials at division level and above and 769 officials at prefecture level and above.

On the “tigers” end, prosecutors looked into 4 490 graft, bribery and embezzlement cases that involved more than one million yuan ($154 083) each, Cao said.

. — Xinhua.