Wives deny trip paid for by public

By Yang Lifei  |   2008-12-10  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

THE government of Zhangjiagang City in Jiangsu Province has denied claims that wives of government officials used public money for a trip to the United States and Canada.

The Modern Express newspaper reported yesterday that only two of the eight members of a delegation on the trip were wives of government officials and both paid their own travel expenses.

The person who exposed the so-called business trip scandal has identified himself online as Chimeiwangliang2009. He sent a document on Monday to China Youth Daily claiming that a delegation of Zhangjiagang government officials' wives went on a trip with public money.

The paper showed that eight wives of Zhangjiagang City government officials, including the mayor's wife, went on a trip to the US and Canada costing more than 233,745 yuan (US$33,392) between June 6 and 18. Chimeiwangliang2009 previously exposed taxpayer-funded holidays taken by officials from Xinyu City in Jiangxi Province and Wenzhou City in Zhejiang Province under the guise of business trips.

He provided copies of more than 20 pages of travel contracts signed between US-based travel agency All Americas Group Co and the delegations to back up the accusations.

Bogus study tour

An investigation confirmed the 356,350-yuan "study tour" by the Xinyu official delegation was a sightseeing trip. It found a 21-day trip by a team of 23 Wenzhou City government officials cost almost 650,000 yuan.

Chimeiwangliang2009 has described himself as a blue-collar worker in the information industry. He said he obtained the travel papers when he picked up a shopping bag while taking a subway on Shanghai's Metro Line 2.

Chimeiwangliang2009 said he had faced enormous pressure since he published the documents, including from his fiancee who was angry at what he was doing, China Youth Daily reported.