There were 90 corruption cases involving 106 officials at 70 local governments uncovered during 1996, the Home Affairs Ministry announced Monday.
The numbers compare with last year's figures of 97 cases, 117 officials and 94 local governments, the ministry said.
The number of officials and governments in corruption cases in 1996 was the lowest since the ministry began compiling the figures in 1976. The ministry attributed the decline to tighter discipline at local governments.
Of the total corruption cases, 13 involved prefectural governments, 71 municipal governments and six were at public corporations. The largest number of cases involved bribery, at 52, followed by embezzlement, at 25. The two accounted for some 86 percent of the total, the ministry said.
Of the total officials involved, 15 were heads of the governments, 18 were assembly members, one was deputy mayor and 72 were officials, the ministry said. Seventy-one were either indicted or received other criminal measures.
As in previous years, the areas with the most corruption cases were civil engineering and construction, accounting for 37 percent, followed by general affairs departments at 13 percent and public corporations at 12 percent, it said.