Shanghai Daily | 上海日报 -- English Window to China News

A HOUSING department director in Jiangsu Province has been sacked for his luxury lifestyle which included smoking an expensive brand of cigarettes costing at least 1,500 yuan (US$221) per carton.

Zhou Jiugen, 48, former director of the housing management department of the provincial capital Nanjing's Jiangning District, had been photographed wearing a Vacheron Constantin watch and smoking expensive Nanjing 95 Imperial cigarettes, the Beijing News reported yesterday.

The report said another reason leading to his dismissal was Zhou's statement to the media that real estate developers should be punished for selling apartments below cost.

This inflamed debate among buyers who had been already been complaining about soaring house prices.

Zhou's watch cost at least 100,000 yuan while each carton of the cigarettes he used cost 1,500 to 1,800 yuan, the newspaper reported.

Jiangning district officials said further investigation would be undertaken into other matters of public complaint concerning Zhou.

The district has also started to investigate other officials caught receiving cash, shopping cards or other goods from companies as Spring festival gifts.

A recently published gift list from Nanjing Lucky Toy Products Co Ltd showed the company had sent 144,800 yuan worth of goods to some officials in Jiangning District during last year's Spring Festival, the report said.

The district commission for discipline inspection said officials named on the list would be investigated and punished if found guilty.

The Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Ministry of Supervision had notified officials across China to be wary of corruption during the New Year and Spring Festival holidays, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday.
Feasts, sightseeing and gift-giving using government money were forbidden, Xinhua said.