BEIJING - Almost 36,000 government officials were ?punished for violating laws and regulations last year, according to new figures released by the Ministry of Supervision on Tuesday.

"Corrupt officials, no matter who they are and what positions they hold, should be dealt with, without mercy," an unnamed senior official of the ministry said in a statement.

He said supervisory organs dealt with a series of corrupt officials, grassroots cadres and law violations in key sectors last year, "maintaining a strong trend of corruption fighting" through punishments that largely involved guilty parties being fired from their positions or stripped off their membership of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

"Investigating these cases, especially serious and influential ones, not only punished corrupt officials and upheld Party discipline, but it alarmed and educated other officials. The Party's firm anti-corruption resolution was shown, people's immediate interests were safeguarded and the system and management were also improved," he said.

Efforts have been made to punish those engaged in illegal forced demolition and land appropriation, and issues concerning food and drug safety and low-rent housing construction, he said.

The Ministry of Supervision and the State Council office for rectifying malpractice last year dealt with 11 forced demolition cases incurring deaths and punished 57 officials in line with the Party and administrative disciplines,

The ministry also investigated 13 serious production safety cases, nine of which have been completed and in which 269 officials have been punished.

He said more than 15,000 officials, or 42 percent of those punished, were done so for duty misconduct, and almost 8,500 were dealt with for embezzlement and bribery. Among them was Yang Hongwei, a former head and deputy secretary of the CPC's committee of southwestern Yunnan province's Chuxiong prefecture.

The ministry has also focused on dealing with commercial bribery cases, "little private coffers" and misuse of official vehicles, celebrations and seminars.