City in Shaanxi accused of running up hotel bills

Anti-graft watchdogs in Shaanxi province are looking into accusations that the city government of Binzhou violated the eight-point frugality code of the Communist Party of China and that it had run up a bill of more than 8.9 million yuan ($1.2 million) at a hotel.

News portal ThePaper.cn reported on Monday that it had received a letter from the State-owned assets supervision commission of the Xingtai municipal government in Hebei province, claiming that the government of Binzhou had seriously violated Party discipline and asking for an investigation. The hotel belongs to a State-owned company in which Hebei province invested.

The original letter was sent to the watchdog in February last year. The-Paper said it received a copy recently.

The letter said Binzhou had run up a debt of 8.9 million yuan at the Binzhou International Garden Hotel, and that payment was overdue because of the government's long-term squandering of money on food and drinks and giving unauthorized or excessive gifts to guests from 2013 to 2018, ThePaper reported.

It also said the government had instructed Li Bin, director of the city's reception office, to get the hotel to transfer the arrears out of the name of the city and apply it to the personal accounts of two government staff members, Zhang Jia and Yao Yuanyuan.

"The hotel has a huge financial burden and is having difficulty operating," the letter said. "Employees are scared to speak out because of pressure from the government."

It added: "Party members have seriously violated the eight-point frugality code and been engaged in hedonism" and that such behavior violates the spirit of the Party. It also requested the provincial anti-graft watchdogs in Shaanxi to investigate.

The letter attached a breakdown of the debts from July 2012 to February 2018 showing the total amount overdue, ThePaper reported.

The original letter had been sent to the Shaanxi Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Shaanxi Supervisory Commission.

The financial staff of the hotel said the Binzhou government had paid a portion of the arrears and currently owed about 6 million yuan, according to the news report.

The Binzhou government did not respond to China Daily's request for an interview. A staff member from the government's administrative office was quoted earlier in Chinese Business View, a local newspaper, saying that she was not clear about the arrears.

The hotel had previously been described on the city's website as the best-furnished, most fashionable, modern and most luxurious future five-star hotel in the area, but that introduction was removed from the government's website, Chinese Business View reported.