Officials punished for misusing public funds

SIX city officials have been punished for violating the Communist Party frugality code, the city anti-graft body announced yesterday.

Wang Zubing, director of the city institute of chemicalrelated occupational diseases, accepted a banquet invitation, a shopping card worth 1,000 yuan (US$147) and expensive tea in September 2016, according to the city’s Party discipline inspection commission.

Yao Zhijun, secretary of the Bank of Shanghai youth league committee, took 11 people, including employees, to dinner and a party at a KTV venue in December 2017, charging a total of 6,765 yuan to his expense account.

Jinshan work safety administration used 22,000 yuan of public funds to buy shopping cards in November 2016.

Cards worth 11,000 yuan were distributed to cadres and the rest were kept by the administration office. Deputy director Cui Haiping has been held responsible.

Director Fan Jianguo and deputy director Wang Yunlong of Waigang grain management office in Jiading District siphoned off 20,000 yuan for dining and gifts between 2015 and Spring Festival 2017.

They also accepted banquet invitations during Spring Festival 2017 and in July 2017.

Xu Yong, a squad leader in Chongming District transportation commission law enforcement department, took squad members to a 1,000-yuan meal paid for by someone in the department’s jurisdiction in January 2017.

All received warnings from the Party and were ordered to return the money.

An eight-point frugality code was introduced in 2012 by the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee to rectify undesirable work styles, including hedonism and extravagance.

Across the country, 72,000 people were punished for breaking the rules in 2017, up 24 percent from 2016.

Cases principally involved unauthorized subsidies, sending or accepting gifts or money and using government funds for banquets and vacations.