In a bid to further crack down on corruption, local government authorities will no longer be allowed to accept gift cards as a form of gratuity from business partners, a discipline commission official said Thursday.

Lu Zhengyi, the department head of Shanghai CPC Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection, said that while details on the rules governing such gift exchanges are still being discussed, they would be released in due time.

Another member from the commission, Dong Junshu, secretary of the commission, said earlier on Wednesday that authorities are also working on plans to help widen the scope of its anti-corruption work and will specially target government departments involved in land, fiscal funds and housing.

"An added focus will be put on township level officials, who have been involved in shady fund deals, particularly with land management authorities in charge of bids, acquisitions and sub-contracting,"he said.

Dong added that corruption in recent years has been spreading to larger realms of government, even including those beneath high-level officials, another trend that authorities are working to reverse.

"Such corruption cases tend to involve large sums of money, and have multiple layers to them,"he said. "They are also masked over lengthy periods of time, which makes them difficult to uncover."

Dong said that the disciplinary commission investigated 810 corruption cases involving government and State owned officials last year. Sixty-five officials were criminally charged for their actions, while others were fined or removed from their posts, he added.

Global Times