China disciplines 4900 violators of frugality rules in October

BEIJING - Communist Party of China (CPC)'s top anti-graft body announced on Sunday that over 4,900 officials were reprimanded for violating austerity rules in October, bringing the total punished this year to 36,600.

The officials punished last month, including two provincial and ministerial level officials, were implicated in over 3,800 cases, about a fourth of which involved unapproved use of public vehicles, the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said in a routine report on its website.

Unauthorized allowances and subsidies, lavish weddings and funerals as well as illicit gift giving and receiving were included in violations.

The CCDI has established a monthly reporting system since August, 2013 to monitor the implementation of "eight-point rules" nationwide, which was introduced on Dec 4, 2012 by the CPC aimed at reducing bureaucracy, extravagance, and undesirable work habits.

According to the CCDI, over 71,000 officials were subject to disciplinary action for breaking austerity rules in 2014.

As of the end of October, some 27,000 cases involving four provincial and ministerial level officials has been dealt with in the country's frugality campaign in 2015, it said.