BEIJING -- China's anti-graft watchdog on Sunday published 13 cases concerning breaches of law or discipline in the environmental protection sector.

The statement, published on the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), detailed how officials from six provinces took advantage of their positions to interfere with environmental impact assessment and poke their fingers into environmental projects approval to seek profits.

In one case, Li Qiumin, a former official with Henan Provincial Environmental Protection Department, gave pollutant discharging permit to a factory which failed to meet requirements and overlooked the consequences.

Such corruption cases have caused adverse effect on society, sparked public complaints and damaged the image of environmental officials, said the statement, adding that fighting corruption concerns the efforts to clean the environment.

Earlier this week, Ji Lin, head of an CCDI inspection group, levelled criticism at the ministry of environmental protection, saying corruption and lack of supervision are behind widespread violations of the law and regulations in environmental assessments of development projects.

"Some officials and their relatives have meddled in environmental assessment process, and even set up companies to seek profits from winning contracts for projects where environmental assessment is required," Ji said.