15 top officials disciplined in 2004

The Chinese Communist Party (CPC) disciplined 164,831 party members, including 15 at the ministerial level last year in a campaign to root out corruption, according to a report published by the party watchdog. The CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection settled 160,602 cases concerning party cadres' misconduct between December 2003 to November 2004, the state media reported. Commission Secretary Wu Guanzheng said the anti-corruption campaign focused on the top officials who took bribes or allowed their family to exploit public resources in their private businesses. The Commission reported that RMB2.5bn (US$303.7m) of public funds were misused by party officials in 2004