Whistleblowers who report corrupt officials may be entitled to 10 times the amount of rewards previously offered by Beijing authorities.

Xinhua said prosecutors had increased the maximum reward to 100,000 yuan (US$12,195) in an attempt to encourage the public to report cases of corruption by public servants.

The move would also "promote the procurators' jobs to investigate and handle embezzlement, bribery, dereliction of duty and abuse of power," said Xinhua. Xinhua quoted officials as saying authorities had raised the rewards after considering changes in the value of embezzlement and bribery cases, as well as the punishment for these crimes.

The level of rewards for reporting corruption remained at 2 percent of the defrauded amount. But the maximum reward, formerly capped at 10,000 yuan, had been revised to 100,000 yuan.

Source: Shenzhen Daily-Agencies