Supreme Court criticizes official bureaucracy

The Supreme People's Court (SPC) on Thursday named six officials and institutions that have violated eight bureaucracy-busting guidelines announced by central authorities late last year.

The officials involved in the cases have been punished, according to a statement from the SPC.

Since the election of the new leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in November, the CPC has launched a high-profile campaign to stamp out bureaucracy, formalism and the improper spending of public funds.

The bureaucracy- and formalism-fighting guidelines were introduced by a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in December.

In one of the cases, officials from the Intermediate People's Court of the city of Huanggang in central China's Hubei Province spent 14,396 yuan (2,329 U.S. dollars) on two dinners and were reimbursed by the court. Two officials involved in the case have been punished.

Another case involved two judges from a court in Xishui County in southwest China's Guizhou Province who left the office on a weekday afternoon to play cards at a teahouse on Jan. 8. The two officials have been punished with administrative discipline.