Some 560 government officials above the county or division level have been arraigned for prosecution since 1998 by the Beijing Municipal People's Procuratorate, the local office of the national judicial supervision organization responsible for the investigation of crimes in which the defendants have taken advantage of their positions for personal gain.

There have been 2,106 crimes of this kind in the capital over the past five years, involving economic losses of 1.4 billion yuan (US$164) to the government, according to Xu Haifeng, prosecutor general of Beijing, in a report to the Beijing Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee yesterday.

Measures have also been taken by the procuratorate to strengthen its ability to prevent crimes in which the guilty take advantage of their positions in the construction industry to seek personal gain, according to Xu.

"The procuratorate is working jointly with other departments to ensure that graft and embezzlement are kept out of the construction of Olympic venues,'' he said.

But the chief prosecutor also pointed out that many problems still exist in the investigation of such crimes.

"The number of corruption cases in judicial and administrative law enforcement organizations that has been filed at procuratorates is less than the real figure,'' Xu said.

Crimes in law enforcement organizations involving abuse of position have been one of the major focuses of complaints from local residents in recent years.

Xu attributes the between actual cases and the number of cases uncovered by prosecutors to the relatively ineffective investigation methods and inadequate law enforcement facilities.

But he also pointed out that officials perpetrating crimes that involve abuse of their positions usually have effective ways to cover up their actions, such as collusion with their fellow staff, which makes investigation more difficult.

Wu Senzhong, vice-director of the BMPC Internal and Judicial Committee yesterday urged the procuratorate to upgrade the professional abilities of procuratorate staff and to improve investigation facilities.

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