Over 6,500 officials punished for extravagance in Aug

A total of 6,575 Communist Party of China (CPC) and government officials were disciplined for breaches of anti-extravagance rules in August, according to a monthly report by the Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Practices such as use of public funds to buy gifts, hold banquets and pay for holidays, as well as extravagance and waste, are strictly banned under the "eight-point" rules introduced by the CPC leadership at the end of 2012.

The August report noted that 2,673 cases concerned about violations of working rules, while 973 concerned luxury goods consumption with public funds. Other cases include gift giving and taking and luxury government building projects.

The report did not specify how the officials were punished. However, under Party rules, punishment can extend up to expulsion from the CPC.

As of the end of August, 74,338 officials had been punished for rule breaches since the introduction of the rules.

Last year, the country's disciplinary departments were urged to tighten supervision and enforcement of rules to reduce corruption.

It also introduced a monthly report mechanism on disciplinary breaches for better implementation of the anti-graft campaign.