Anti-graft campaign targets poverty relief

"We will step up efforts to combat such crimes to let more people at the grassroots level share the fruits of the anti-graft campaign," Cao said.

He also said the number of corrupt officials involved in the misuse and embezzlement of poverty relief funds has risen sharply due to "loopholes in the supervision mechanism, and the high number of anti-poverty projects and the huge funds involved".

According to the SPP, 933 corrupt officials in charge of poverty alleviation were investigated by prosecutors last year, a year-on-year increase of 19.2 percent.

In October, China set a goal of building a well-off society and lifting all poverty-stricken people in rural areas out of poverty by 2020.

"By targeting corrupt officials in the poverty relief sector, we will ensure that the targeted poverty relief strategy will really benefit poor people," Cao said.

He added that prosecutors will work closely with poverty relief departments and set up a system to share information, such as the number of poor people, funding distribution, and how poverty relief programs are run.

China still has 200 million people living in poverty, based on the World Bank standard, which means they each live on less than $1.90 a day. In 2014, the central government allocated 43.3 billion yuan ($6.67 billion) for poverty relief, double the amount in 2010.