Nearly 90 officials held in Hunan for cheating govt

Eighty-eight government officials have been punished for falsifying records to get national subsidies in renovating shantytowns in Dongkou county, Hunan province, Xinhua News Agency reported on Saturday.

Fourteen officials have been detained by disciplinary authorities and nine administrators of private enterprises have been criminally detained by local police.

From 2012 to 2017, leading officials of the CPC Dongkou county committee and Dongkou government have colluded with private companies to falsify records to get national subsidies in shantytown renovation and short-term political achievement.

They falsified and reported some of the commercial real estate projects as shantytowns.

The detained officials included former Party chief of Dongkou, head of Dongkou county government and two deputy heads of the county government. Other 74 officials have been given Party and administrative punishment and 29 government institutions involved in the plan have been asked to rectify their behavior.

Heads of nine private companies have been detained for allegedly committing crimes including fraud and giving bribes.

While looking into the case, the Hunan provincial authorities also conducted thorough investigation into similar cases. As of the end of August, a total of 1,275 similar cases have been filed, with 889 officials given Party and administrative punishment and 191 being sent to law enforcement authorities and more than 370 million yuan of illegal gains confiscated.