A database that tracks companies and people tied to bribery has been effective in helping authorities clean up bidding for major projects, the Supreme People's Procuratorate said on Wednesday.

The system, established in 2011, allows authorities to inquire whether a company or individual has a bribery conviction. If so, they are likely to be disqualified from bidding for major projects, the SPP said.

Figures provided by the SPP show that inquiries were conducted last year into more than 4 million organizations and 5 million individuals.

Because of those inquiries, 928 organizations and 817 people were disqualified from submitting tenders for projects. They also faced restrictions on credit evaluations and applying for bank loans.

"They usually offered bribes to government officials to gain illegal profits, which causes serious disorder in the market economy," said an official at the SPP's anti-corruption and bribery bureau who declined to reveal his name.

He said bribery tends to occur in capital-intensive industries, including construction, finance, education and healthcare, as well as in connection with government purchases.

According to the SPP, national prosecuting departments began to use a bribery record system in 2006, but it was only available at the provincial level.

"Prosecuting departments didn't have unified management nor effective supervision of the system, which resulted in some practical problems," the official said.

For example, problems occur when companies conduct cross-regional bidding, as information is not available for nonlocal companies. A company will move from place to place and continue securing projects by offering bribes, the official said.

The SPP said it will broaden the system to include other crimes such as dereliction of duty and abuse of power. It will also hand down severe punishments to those who offer bribes and those who accept them.