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Officials probing China's forced labor scandal punished for card games |
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18:44, July 09, 2007 |
Five officials in Hongtong County in north China''s Shanxi Province, the center of China''s slave labor scandal, have been punished for playing cards during office hours.
Ma Heping, deputy secretary of the county discipline commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC), was given a warning, while Ren Qinglin, director of the commission''s investigation department, received a "serious warning", the Linfen city CPC discipline commission said.
Three other officials -- Zhang Xiuying, Liu Baohu and Guo Sen -- were ordered to "make serious self-criticisms".
On June 19, Ren and the other three officials were caught by journalists who were reporting on the brick kiln forced labor scandal. The officials were playing cards in the office when they should have been investigating the scandal, a Hunan-based newspaper said.
Ren was quoted by the newspaper as saying, "We worked until 2:00 a.m. and we are tired. Today is the dragon-boat festival, and we are playing cards to relax a bit."
The story of the card games drew harsh public criticism that officials were failing in their duties and public expectations.
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