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BEIJING - CHINESE investigators have identified more than 2,700 officials for possible prosecution over land development misdeeds exposed in a recent crackdown, state media reported.
The officials, and another 1,000 still being probed, were implicated in 31,000 land violations, especially illegally transferring farmland to commercial developers, the Xinhua news agency reported late on Monday.
The Minister of Land and Resources, Mr Xu Shaoshi, said a nationwide campaign since September found violations and crooked deals involving 550,000 acres of land.
Alarmed by unbridled development that has devoured farmland and enraged displaced farmers, China has launched repeated campaigns to rein in developers and local officials who exploit land transfers for revenue and bribes.
'Perpetrators should pay a high price for what they have done,' Mr Xu told an official meeting.
Xinhua said some government officials sought to attract capital and technology by offering cheap or even free land.
China's formally vests control of most farmland in collective hands - effectively, officials - leaving villagers vulnerable to deals that cut them out of a say in prices and profits.
Seizures and inadequate compensation are the main cause of protest in the countryside, and this month the government promised to raise compensation for land requisitions by 20 to 30 per cent.
In December, officials in the northern province of Heilongjiang detained farmers on criminal charges of 'inciting subversion' after they put their names to a petition calling for private land ownership.
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