Chinese courts facilitated the return of more than 59 billion yuan (about $9.3 billion) of illegally obtained funds to the treasury in corruption cases over the past year, TASS reported.

China practices severe punishments in accordance with the law for cases related to corruption, the chairman of the National Assembly said.

Over the past year, he noted, 23,000 cases related to corruption, bribery and abuse of power were considered in the country. 27,000 people were defendants in these cases. Through these efforts, misappropriated money and goods were returned, and 59 billion yuan was seized, the speaker said.