More than 30 percent of public corporations had former bureaucrats on their boards of trustees last year, almost the same level as that of the previous year, according to a white paper released Tuesday.

Of the 26,264 corporations controlled by the central or prefectural governments, including legally incorporated foundations, 7,992 had trustees who were former bureaucrats as of Oct. 1, 2000, compared with 8,059 a year earlier, the annual paper says.

The figures show that retired bureaucrats landing jobs in private companies or public corporations related to their former posts -- a practice called "amakudari," or descent from heaven -- is as common as ever despite the media attention it has received in recent years.

Such trustees each receive an annual remuneration of more than 20 million yen at 128 of the corporations surveyed, and just under 8 million yen at 70 percent of the corporations, according to the paper.

In 1996, the Cabinet approved guidelines saying that the number of former bureaucrats who had become trustees in corporations they formerly had jurisdiction over should not exceed one-third of the full board of trustees.

But as many as 577 corporations exceeded that limit last year, down only by 102 from a year earlier, the white paper says.