Official denies splurging on son's wedding celebrations

A Beijing village official denied spending 1.6 million yuan ($260,000) on his son's eye-catching wedding even as the Chaoyang district disciplinary authority announced it would investigate this case, xinhuanet.com reported on Monday.

Ma Linxiang, deputy director of the Qingheying village committee, held three days of banquets from Friday to Sunday at a conservative estimate of 1.6 million yuan, The Beijing News reported.

But Ma said on Monday afternoon that his own outlay had been about 200,000 yuan and the remainder of the costs had been met by his daughter-in-law's wealthy Jiangsu family.

There were not just banquets at the city's China National Convention Center, the Beijing paper reported, but performing stars including apprentices of comedian Zhao Benshan attended. Luxury cars were also sighted.

The wedding had apparently contravened recent strictures "against extravagance, formalism, bureaucracy and hedonism," said Zhang Yaocan, a professor of politics and law at Central China Normal University in Wuhan, Hubei Province. "It has become common for officials to see it as a money-making opportunity to hold various banquets for their families," he told the Global Times.

Cash gifts from villagers were between 200 and 500 yuan, and totaled 60,000 yuan, Ma said. "I didn't make it much different, just following village tradition."

"Being a village official, I know the strictures from the central authority, and it is not appropriate," he told the State news agency, "but the family of my son's wife insisted on holding the banquets. I didn't stop that. I accept the criticism and the investigation."

The Chaoyang District Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China announced on Monday it would investigate Ma.

The banquet at the convention center and performers were in fact paid for by the wife's family, and he did not know how much they had spent, Ma said.