One case involved embezzling more than 拢5.3m.
A total of 11,273 officials received penalties between September 2009 to March this year, and 5,698 of them were prosecuted, said vice supervision minister Hao Mingjin.
Figures show that prosecutors nationwide investigated 15,010 people in construction-related illegal activities during the same period. Among these, prosecutors said that 13,416 were involved in embezzling or taking bribes totalling more than 2.99 billion yuan (拢282m). Prosecutors helped retrieve more than 360 million yuan (拢34m) from these cases.
Hao cited 20 major criminal cases, in which officials in charge of land management and state-run construction companies were penalised. Among the 20 cases, the largest embezzlement amounted to more than 61.56 million yuan (拢5.3m).
Construction-related sectors are regarded as vulnerable to graft in China. Hao said that corruption can occur at all stages of a construction project, from land-use approval to project management, public bidding and construction material purchases.
He added that the majority of the corruption cases are related to officials taking bribes and exchanging public resources for personal gain by illegally intervening in construction projects.
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