(Beijing) — The head of China's top graft-fighting agency is spearheading a pilot program to consolidate the country's anti-corruption agencies in an apparent effort to better coordinate their work and create a body similar to Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).

Wang Qishan recently finished a nine-day mission to Shanxi and Zhejiang provinces and to Beijing to launch the program on a trial basis, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

He told local authorities that China's supervision commission system, which is under the jurisdiction of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), will incorporate the functions of party discipline agencies, anti-corruption supervision agencies at all levels of government, and anti-corruption investigations by judicial authorities.

Commissions in each jurisdiction will pool corruption- and embezzlement-fighting resources at local prosecutors' offices, working along with the party's discipline authorities to facilitate anti-corruption operations in China, he said.

Wang, one of the seven members of the all-powerful Standing Committee of the party's Politburo, heads the CCDI.

Wang's visit to the three areas from Nov. 17-25 came after the general office of the party's Central Committee outlined its pilot program, saying it wanted to create an agency similar to Hong Kong's ICAC.

That integrated agency allows authorities to coordinate anti-corruption efforts and keep tabs on all government payrolls, Wang said.

Prosecutors' offices in Shanxi were told to freeze hiring and suspend promotions and transfers in their anti-corruption units and those handling embezzlement cases, a provincial official said.

Contact Li Rongde (rongdeli@caixin.com); editor Ken Howe (kennethhowe@caixin.com)