8,200 punished for wasting public money

Nearly 8,200 officials and Party members have been punished for using public money to buy gifts and pay for eating, drinking and entertaining since the launch of a campaign to clean up officialdom began in June last year.

The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China organized the campaign in November 2012, and the crackdown was scheduled to run from June 2013 until September 2014.

The campaign was designed to clean up undesirable working practices such as formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism and extravagance, which are believed to have eroded the Party's reputation and damaged relations between the government and the public.

According to statistics issued on Tuesday by the CPC office in charge of the campaign, 162,629 staff members who were receiving salaries while not doing any work have been removed from the government payroll. In addition, 114,418 vehicles used for government business have been removed from service.

The number of official meetings has been reduced by 586,000, or 24.6 percent, compared with the corresponding period before the campaign began. The number of documents distributed fell by 1.9 million as steps to reduce red tape came into force.

Public spending on government vehicles, overseas trips and official receptions was reduced by 53 billion yuan ($8.6 billion), or 27.5 percent. About 96,000 overseas trips by officials were canceled.