Civil servants were involved in 1,603 out of 6,972 cases of commercial bribery investigated by the Ministry of Supervision since it was set up last year. Construction, land transactions, property rights exchanges, medicine sales, government procurement and resource development were highlighted as areas requiring special attention as the ministry vowed to investigate civil servants who accepted bribes from bidders for government contracts. As much as US$246 million was involved in all the cases investigated, the South China Morning Post reported. The central government has promised to crack down on corruption in a bid to counter widespread public discontent with officials� behavior.