Society

Police officers punished for luxury banquets

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-02-22 16:41
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GUANGZHOU: Two police officers in south China's Guangdong province have received administrative punishments for giving luxury wedding banquets, as provincial authorities warned against corruption.

Zhao Zhenghua, an official with the provincial commission of Communist Party of China for Discipline Inspection, said on Sunday that Chen Xizhao, deputy head of the Public Security Bureau in Lianjiang city, has been suspended while Liu Shengqiang, duputy chief of the Shenzhen Airport Police Station, has been given a discipline warning.

Discipline supervisors found Chen had hosted a banquet for 400 guests to celebrate his moved to a new house. Liu hosted a wedding banquet for his daughter with 110 tables of guests.

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Both collected money gifts from the guests. Chen received 65,000 yuan ($7,322) and Liu got 36,000 yuan.

According to Chinese tradition, banquet guests often give cash gifts to help offset the celebration costs.

Local media reports said Liu's banquet cost at least 440,000 yuan, with the mainly seafood menu priced at around 4,000 yuan per table.

The discipline official announced the punishment when naming ten cases of disciplinary action.

Other cases include punishments for gambling, manipulating land transfer deals and randomly collecting education fees or smart money.

Zhu Mingguo, secretary of the commission, vowed on Monday to tighten punishments against officials' corrupt and lazy work style.