Thirty-two officials at ministerial level or above have been investigated in the past five years, China's top procurator said on Tuesday.

Cao Jianming, procurator general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, said the number of criminals found to have accepted bribes from 2008 to 2012 rose by 19.5 percent from the previous five years.

Cao made the remarks in a report heard by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress during its ongoing bi-monthly session.

A total of 1,029 officials at and above department level were investigated from 2008-12, Cao said in the report.