Over 60 ministerial officials punished in 5 yrs

BEIJING - More than 60 officials at the ministerial and provincial levels were punished for discipline violation since the Party's last national congress, said China's discipline inspection agency in the Chinese capital on Thursday.

These high-level officials were among 600,000 people who faced punishment for violating Party and government disciplines since the 17th National Congress of Communist Party of China held in 2007, said a statement from the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Among them, more than 200,000 were transferred to prosecutors for being involved in law infringement, the CCDI statement said.

One of the cases was the country's former railway minister, Liu Zhijun, who was expelled from the CPC after being investigated for corruption in May. His case has been handed over to judicial departments.

Early this month, Liu Zhuozhi, former vice-chairman of North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region government was convicted of taking bribes and sentenced to life imprisonment.

The CPC is going to hold a new national congress in the latter half of this year.