BEIJING, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- China investigated and dealt with 31,119 commercial bribery cases in the first eight months of 2007, with 7.08 billion yuan (about 970 million U.S. dollars) of illicit money involved.

    A total of 6,971 commercial bribery cases involved government officials, accounting for 22 percent of the total, said an official with the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

    The number of commercial bribery cases in certain areas, such as in sales of drug and medical devices, has dropped considerably due to the crackdown, said the unnamed official, without giving detailed figures.

    China's 2.6 million companies and enterprises, as well as 49 government watchdogs and regulators, also carried out inspections on themselves, confiscating 640 million yuan (about 89 U.S. dollars) of illicit money in the first eight months of 2007.