A total of 15,600 graft cases related to government-funded civil engineering projects were uncovered last year, a statement from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China (CPC) said Friday.

Over 5,100 people involved in the cases had been handed over to the judicial authorities, it said.

Central authorities launched a crackdown on the construction sector in July 2009 and later ordered nationwide inspections on government-sponsored construction projects with an investment of five million yuan (US$746,000) or more.

The crackdown examined over 366,000 projects and found about 210,000 problems ranging from poor quality of construction projects to briberies.

The statement did not give details of the problems, but said nearly three quarters of them had been addressed.

The nationwide crackdown will be intensified, it said.

(Xinhua News Agency January 8, 2011)