Deputy Premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has expressed concern over the increasing number of cases of corruption in the civil service, and called for more effective measures to curb the menace to society.

"More than half of the 1,342 people detained during the 1998-2002 period for alleged involvement in corrupt practices are civil servants and this is worrying," he said at the opening of the Good Governance Committee Convention 2003 in Kuching.

More effective measures must be implemented immediately to curb corruption especially in the public service, Bernama quoted him as saying.