Public funds spent on massages, Netizen claims

By Tom Qian  |   2009-1-24  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

A CITY auditing bureau has become embroiled in a scandal after four bills were posted online appearing to show it used public funds to pay for massage services, Oriental Morning Post reported.

One of the bills, with an outstanding sum of 1,498 yuan (US$219), was posted on the Dongyang City auditing bureau's Website on Thursday. The bill was later deleted and the Website was shut down, according to the report.

The Dongyang City Discipline Commission is now investigating the case.

The four bills were dated April 3 and 19, and September 24 and 27 in 2003. They were posted on Tianya.cn, a popular community Website, on Tuesday. The bills show a detailed list of services such as "European-style massage" and "tips." The bills were signed by an individual surnamed Wei.

Wei Juntu has served as the director general of the auditing bureau since 2003, the report said. However, there is no proof that Wei Juntu signed the massage bills. It was unclear who had the massages.

The person who posted the bills online went by the username "081209." This person claimed a European-style massage referred to sex services, which cost 400 yuan, while tips were 600 yuan. One of the bills had an outstanding sum of 2,296 yuan.

081209 refused to say why the bills were posted more than five years later. "I have my reasons, readers will understand later," the poster said. It also was not clear how 081209 obtained the bills.