China has punished another 119 people in a continuing crackdown on government corruption.

The state-run news agency Xinhua said the Communist Party of China (CPC) named the wrongdoers in a report made public recently on the website of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), which is now being led by  Li Shulei, a trusted aide to China's President Xi Jinping.

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The report details a wide gamut of corruption cases, including bribery, illegal bonuses, fraud and embezzlement. Those found guilty have been meted punishments ranging from official warnings to removal from office.  Those found guilty of offenses that carry criminal liability have been turned over to the courts.

The Chinese government is encouraging innovation and creative entrepreneurship among the country's businessmen, and analysts say corruption is a stumbling block to that national objective.  Carnegie Endowment, the global think tank organization, estimates that corruption denies China around three percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) each year.  

More than 42 percent of the companies sampled in a World Bank survey conducted in 2012 meanwhile said they believe firms in their industry pay bribes to public officials in order to secure government contracts.  Some 11.6 percent of the companies sampled in the same survey reported that they had experienced at least one bribe request during six transactions dealing with utilities, government permits, licenses and taxes.

The results of a more recent survey conducted by Charney Research indicates that the city of Beijing is China's most corrupt metropolis. Some 43 percent of the company representatives interviewed by Charney Research in the Chinese capital claimed their firms had to pay bribes to continue operations.   

Paraphrasing a previous Xinhua report, Reuters says that some corrupt Chinese officials have learned how to conceal huge troves of ill-gotten wealth by living lives of apparent frugality. 

Chinese authorities investigated some 37 ministerial level Chinese officials on charges of graft last year.  Ten of those investigated occupied positions in the central government, while nine others worked in state-owned enterprises, according to state media.

In all, the CCDI investigated a little more than 29,000 thousand Party members in connection with corruption charges in 2015.  China's corruption watchdog organization actively encourages the Chinese public to report corrupt government officials.  The commission has received some 270,000 tips from the public since 2013. 

In that same time frame, the CCDI turned over some 8,400 pieces of evidence to the courts for proper judicial action. 

TagsChina Communist Party, Central Commission for Discipline Inspection