BEIJING: Chinese officials have been holding secret sauna parties and hiding their alcohol in plastic water bottles as they seek to get around a crackdown on extravagance, state media reported yesterday.
“Constant reports of saunas held at farm houses” were evidence of a growing culture of “low key extravagance” that was damaging the new president’s anti-corruption campaign, the People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party said.
Officials have been filling mineral water bottles with expensive liquor and storing luxury cigarettes in boxes belonging to cheaper brands, the report said.
China’s new leaders have stressed austerity as they try to rein in extravagant feasts and luxury spending, with newly-installed President Xi Jinping vowing to crack down on corruption among high and low ranking officials.
Xi has said that corruption could lead to the Communist party’s downfall, and it often incites public anger, with 50 percent of Chinese ranking official graft “a very big problem”, according to a recent Pew Research Centre survey.AFp
