1.2 million punished in China graft drive

BEIJING: Nearly 1.2 million people have been punished in China’s ongoing anti- graft campaign, a the government will double-down on the drive that some say is a political purge.

As part of the campaign, nearly 2,600 fugitives have been repatriated, and 8.6 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) worth of assets have been recovered, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), said in a statement on Monday.

China has extradition treaties with a total of 48 countries, including Spain, Italy, and France, which returned a fugitive to China last September.

Speaking at a press conference, Luo Dongchuan, a senior CCDI would continue, saying that the government should “keep the crushing momentum against corruption.”

But in 2016, the number of cor- ruption cases reported to the watch

He said of the 2016 cases, 57,000 were self-confessions.

whom ranked at the ministerial level or above, were punished in 2016, the state-run China Daily reported Monday.

The CCDI statement followed an announcement that Beijing would be tightening the reins on anti-corruption investigators after more than 7,900 across the country, including 17 from the CCDI itself, were punished for their own wrongdoing.

Government corruption is ram Jinping has presided over a muchpublicised anti- graft campaign since coming to power in 2012, which some have compared to a political purge.