Seven ministerial-level officials were investigated for suspected embezzlement or bribery in China last year, said the country's top procurator on March 11.

Prosecutors nationwide investigated a total of 2,524 officials above the county head level, said Cao Jianming, Procurator General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, while delivering a work report at the annual session of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature.

According to him, efforts to crack down on bribe-taking and giving were intensified last year, with 4,217 bribe givers being prosecuted, a year-on-year increase of 6.2 percent.