Crackdown on gambling nets 7,162 officials
Print Edition
THOUSANDS of Party and government officials have been punished for offenses related to gambling since the middle of last year, according to a central government report.
The 7,162 officials were from more than 30 cities and provinces, with east China’s Zhejiang and Guangdong in the south reporting the most cases — 1,575 in Zhejiang and 1,127 in Guangdong. Punishments ranged from warnings to administrative punishments but no further details were released.
A crackdown on gambling by officials has become a major thrust of the government’s anti-corruption campaign.
Some officials were taking bribes by being allowed to win at mahjong, a practice an official with the commission for discipline inspection in southwest China’s Guizhou Province told the Beijing Youth Daily was common. Winners can pocket more than 100,000 yuan (US$16,300) from just one session, he said.
One businessman quoted by the newspaper said some company owners would lose deliberately in the hope they would be afforded preferential treatment in future.
The newspaper said officials addicted to gambling would steal public funds to cover their gambling losses.
In May, Cong Jun, deputy director of Liuzhou’s social security management office in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, was arrested over allegations he stole 3 million yuan from public funds to pay for bets on soccer.
Lu Shengle, finance office director in Guangxi’s Liangjiang Town, was alleged to have embezzled 3.23 million yuan in public funds over the past four years to pay for gambling.
In south China’s Hainan Province, an unspecified number of officials were punished for gambling during working hours, according to the report.
In the most recent case, a village official surnamed Jin in Fotang Town in Zhejiang’s Yiwu City is being investigated over claims he has debts of more than 4 million yuan from gambling in Macau.
The probe was launched after Jin, with his 79-year-old mother in the car, drove to the gates of the town’s government office building on September 26 and set fire to the vehicle in an apparent suicide attempt.
Both are being treated in hospital for serious injuries but said to be in a stable condition.
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