The country's chief prosecutor yesterday called for stiffer penalties for civil servants found guilty of misconduct or abuse of power, describing current punishments as "too lenient".

"Lenient penalties in such cases are very common, which fails to punish guilty officials and warn others," Cao Jianming, procurator-general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, told the National People's Congress Standing Committee yesterday.

Most civil servants convicted of job-related crimes from 2005 to this June were exempt from criminal punishments or received penalties with a reprieve, he said.

During that time, prosecutors nationwide handled more than 31,200 cases of job-related crimes involving more than 38,700 officials, including five ministerial-level ones.

Cao appealed for better legislation and more public attention to be directed toward misconduct and abuse of power, which is covered by 43 separate charges in criminal law.

The existing Criminal Law stipulates very light sentences for certain job-related crimes, and the Criminal Procedure Law does not grant prosecutors enough right to investigate such cases, Cao said.

Public and local government leaders should better understand how much harm such crimes can cause, he said.

Unlike officials caught taking bribes, who often receive widespread public attention, those accused of dereliction often receive sympathy, especially from fellow government officials.

"Among all dereliction that prosecutors have handled, very few come from reports from the public," he said.

Song Hansong, deputy director of the Supreme People's Procuratorate's anti-dereliction bureau, said in an earlier interview that some government officials are reluctant to report and hand over cases to the procuratorates and have contented themselves with giving suspects administrative rather than criminal punishments.

He criticized efforts by some local officials to portray dereliction of duty as simply a "bad outcome generated by good intentions", rather than as violations of the law.

Cao said the Supreme People's Procuratorate will encourage prosecutors across the country to better supervise judges and urge courts to re-try cases in which those convicted of job-related crimes receive lighter sentences than they deserve.