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Travel on public funds trimmed

By Xie Chuanjiao (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-07 09:56

Officials who hope to take a little trip this year will find there's been a cut in the budget.

Government spending on trips will be cut 20 percent this year in an effort to crack down on officials spending public money on sightseeing tours overseas, a notice on the Beijing municipal government's website said.

"Party and government officials must not misuse public funds for overseas tours and must not demand any subsidy or financial assistance from any institution or enterprise," the authorities said.

The municipal government singled out the use of fake letters sent by bogus overseas groups inviting officials on personal trips at public expense and said no reimbursement would be given in those situations.

The Chinese media have reported a string of scandals involving officials going on overseas trips, spending their time shopping and sightseeing with public funds.

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In August 2007, Xu Wen'ai, vice-procurator-general of Anhui province, was removed from his post for wasting public funds on a trip to Finland.

A delegation of 10 people from the procuratorate headed by Xu was found to have fabricated an invitation from the Finnish government.

Ren Jin, a professor with the National School of Administration, said the efforts could significantly curb violations.

"But the same monitoring and restrictions should be applied to the domestic trips, which sometimes cost much more than overseas tours," Ren said.

In a recent case, villagers from Xinzhung village of the capital's Fengtai district tried to prevent village officials from leaving town when they learned the officials were heading to Guangxi for sightseeing tours, the Beijing News reported.

"They travel for fun on public funds," a villager surnamed Yang was quoted as saying.

Villagers failed to block the buses and the officials successfully made the journey, which they explained as "a trip to study and learn how other villages get wealthy". Authorities are investigating the case.

The latest move by the Beijing municipality follows a similar nationwide campaign, jointly announced by the Ministry of Finance.

China banned nearly 4,000 people from attending more than 550 overseas group trips on public expense during the May-November period last year, Xinhua reported earlier.

Now overseas trips for Beijing officials will have to adhere to a strict schedule, with finance departments working out annual budgets.

The departments involved in sending officials on trips should thoroughly inspect the bills submitted by officials and report claims to the municipal finance bureau for approval before reimbursing anyone.