Chinese offical gambles away public funds

BEIJING: Amid a Chinese government crackdown against gambling, an official is suspected of having spent $11.25 million of public funds in casinos abroad.

Li, 43, Tangxia Township head, is suspected of having lost $10.13 million in overseas casinos between 2001 and 2004 and $500,000 gambling in a Macao casino on a single night, a report on the state-run television said.

He is also suspected of taking bribes in exchange for granting developers land use rights and granting government loans to private companies.

Li's monthly salary was less than $625, yet he and his wife Huang Caifeng owned 30 apartments valued at more than $12.5 million.

With such valuable assets to his name, Li was one of the richest government officials in Guangdong Province, which borders the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.

He visited Hong Kong and Macao a total of 257 times between 2001 and 2004, being seen in local casinos on every trip.

While gambling is banned in mainland China, Macao, a former Portuguese colony, which embraced Chinese sovereignty in 2000, is a Special Administrative Region of China where gambling is officially allowed.