A total of 4,878 officials nationwide have admitted they have stakes in coal mines, with a total capital of 737 million yuan (91 million U.S. dollars).

Five hundred and sixty-two million yuan (69.4 million U.S. dollars) were withdrawn by Nov. 2005.

The announcement was made by Wu Guanzheng, secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, in a report to the commission's Sixth Plenary Session on Jan. 5. The report was released to the public on Monday.

"A campaign to oblige government officials and leaders of state-owned enterprises to give up their shares in coal mines has achieved initial success," Wu said in the report.

The Party's top discipline official also disclosed in his report that disciplinary panels at various levels dealt with 21,010 complaints involving administrative licensing and penalized 2,845 members of the Party through Dec. 2004 to Nov. 2005, in an effort to intensify supervision on the implementation of the Administrative Licensing Law and the country's macroeconomic control policies.

The Administrative Licensing Law, which came into effect in 2004, aims to return more rights to citizens by limiting government power.

The Party's disciplinary panels punished 240 officials at and above the county level after investigating 115 most serious accidents, stepping up efforts to rectify China's market economy, Wu said in the report.

Government service centers or offices for the public to file complaints have been set up nationwide to boost administrative efficiency.

From Dec. 2004 to Nov. 2005, a total of 49,123 Party members who violated the Party disciplines and government regulations received disciplinary penalties, said Wu.

Source: Xinhua