Officials punished for lavish US tour

By Cao Li (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-05 07:38

SHANGHAI -- The four leaders of a group of 23 officials from Zhejiang province that spent a "business" trip to the United States visiting tourist attractions have been punished, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday.

The four, all officials from the city of Wenzhou, were given either a serious warning or a warning from the Communist Party of China, the Wenzhou Party committee said.

They included Yu Xuemin, a city official in charge of education, and three others who were leading members of the tour group.

The committee said that although the itinerary for the trip was in line with local government rules, and that sending officials overseas for training purposes was standard practice, the group spent too little time on business activities and visited more cities than they were allowed.

Tao Shimei, director of the disciplinary department denied reports that the 23 officials had visited casinos and adult shows in Las Vegas, but admitted that they had stayed at the Sahara Hotel & Casino from Feb 18-20.

"It was the first overseas trip for most of them and they were very discreet," she said.

News of the trip was made public on Nov 26, after an IT engineer from Shanghai found a bag of travel documents on a subway train.

Using the name Chimei Wangliang 2009, he posted 37 photographs of the documents on the Internet, and informed the two governments of his find.

The documents, which included lists of travelers, itineraries, invitation letters and payment vouchers, showed that two groups of government officials - one from Wenzhou and one from Xinyu, Jiangxi province - visited the United States and Canada earlier in the year.

While there, instead of attending business meetings and training courses, as planned, the groups spent most of their time shopping and visiting scenic spots such as Niagara Falls, Hawaiian beaches and the Las Vegas strip.

The Wenzhou group's trip was alleged to have cost 650,000 yuan, while the Xinyua group spent 330,000 yuan.

On Nov 29, the Xinyua government said it had sacked the three officials who had organized the trip, and ordered the group's members to repay the money.