China's police dealt with 1,197 commercial corruption cases in the first 11 months of last year, arresting 781 people, according to the Ministry of Public Security on Tuesday.

The cases involved a total of 168 million yuan (21 million U.S. dollars). Police resolved 996, avoiding potential losses of 64.68 million yuan (8.08 million U.S. dollars).

The number of cases the police handled rose by 66 percent and the number resolved by 54 percent compared with the same period of the previous year, reported the ministry.

The crackdown on commercial corruption, usually referring to bribes offered by companies to government officials in exchange for special favors, has been highlighted in China's anti-graft drive in the past two years.

The ministry set up a special leading group in charge of the fight and focused its efforts on cases closely related to the public interest or seriously disturbing the market order.

The major targets included construction projects, land transfer deals, property right trades, drug sales and government procurement, the ministry said.

Statistics from the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Commission for Discipline Inspection showed that China tackled 13,376 commercial corruption cases from August 2005 to June 2006, involving 3.76 billion yuan (470 million U.S. dollars).

A total of 3,128 cases, or 23.4 percent, directly involved government employees. Those cases had a monetary value of 968 million yuan (121 million U.S. dollars) or 25.7 percent of the total funds involved in commercial corruption.

Source: Xinhua