China’s graft watchdog has reprimanded 137 staff at the country’s top bank for hosting extravagant dinners and entertainment and forcing subordinates to give gifts.
The action by the Central Commission on Discipline Inspection was taken after the focus of the public austerity campaign was switched to the financial sector.
Party leaders approved the “Eight Regulations of Austerity” in December 2012, one of the first initiatives in Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign. While much of the drive has focused on large-scale bribery and abuse of power, the rules focused on more quotidian forms of corruption: banquets at public expense, unnecessary travel and meetings and unauthorised use of government cars.