A senior Party official said in Beijing Wednesday that 427 officials who are also members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) have been investigated by judicial departments for breaking laws in recent years.

Ouyang Song, vice head of the CPC Central Committee Organization Department, said at a press briefing that between 2003 and 2006 all discipline inspection organs nationwide investigated 133,467 Party officials, including 7,520 ones who were ranking members of management of state-owned enterprises.

According to results of the investigation, 2,585 were dismissed or demoted, 1,363 were disciplined in line with Party regulations, and 427 who severely violated Party regulations and broke laws were transferred to judicial investigation, Ouyang said.

He also revealed that 9,378 officials were penalized for violating rules in the recruitment, promotion and management of personnel.

He did not elaborate on the cases, which often involve corruption and under-the-table deals to buy off promotions and recruit people with special connections.

"We have continuously enhanced supervision of officials in a more innovative way," Ouyang said, citing a widely-accepted practice for officials to submit self evaluation reports on routine basis, an effort to check corruption, and stricter auditing work to make sure the officials are not making undeserved money.

(Xinhua News Agency October 17, 2007)