Chinese govt officials in trouble for wasting public money after Internet expose

Beijing, Aug. 15 (ANI): Twenty one government officials in the Chinese province of Sichuan have come under trouble for allegedly using public money to pay for a she-male show in Thailand five years ago.

The incident came to light after a netizen put some photos on the Internet in a bid to expose the apparent misuse of public funds, the China Daily reports.

One of the photos showed a man wearing glasses pulling cash from his T-shirt pocket, while a half-naked she-male stands next to him holding a wad of bank notes.

In another photo, a man stands next to a bikini-clad she-male in front of a sign reading "20 Baht each for taking a photo."

Another photo, republished by Sichuan-based West China Metropolis Daily on Friday, shows several shirtless officials having dinner at a round table.

The netizen posted three names and job titles along with the photos: "Yang Shaoquan, the chief of Xuantan town in Luxian county; Ai Yahui, the vice-chief of the county's technology department; and Hong Daifu, director of the county's supply and marketing cooperative."

The photos have since been removed from the website.

"You have to understand that we are under a lot pressure and therefore we deleted the photos the netizen published online," said a spokesperson of bbs.scol.com.cn.

However, nearly 14,000 people had read the account of the incident published online by the netizen Zhaoyaojing by the time of the removal.

"I don't know what kind of 'inspection' the officials did in Thailand. They look no different to the tourists," said a netizen.

On Wednesday, an investigation into the conduct of the five officials was launched by the county discipline inspection commission under the Communist Party of China (CPC) Luxian county committee.

"The incident is still under investigation and we'll deal with it seriously," said an official involved with the probe. (ANI)