By IANS,
Beijing : An urban management official in China’s Guangdong province is being investigated over allegations that he and his family own 21 houses worth an estimated value of about 40 million yuan ($6.5 million). His monthly play is around 10,000 yuan (about $1,590).
The probe was initiated after after muckrakers in cyberspace found he and his family members owned 21 houses, Xinhua reported.
Spokesperson for Panyu district’s discipline inspection watchdog said, Cai Bin, a senior official with the Panyu district branch of Guangzhou Municipal Urban Management and Law Enforcement Bureau, is being investigated for corruption.
The scandal came to light after netizens posted pictures of Cai’s properties onto Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter-like microblogging site.
“It is basically true that Cai has 21 houses according to our preliminary investigations,” said spokesperson Guo Xuanyu.
The number is much more than Cai previously declared to superior authorities.
Preliminary investigations found that Cai, 56, owned 18 houses in Panyu and three others in Nansha district at the mega-city of Guangzhou in Guangdong.
A real estate agency estimated that the total market value of the houses could be 40 million yuan (about $6.5 million).
Of the 21 houses, 19 are under the name of Cai’s wife Shi Liying and his son. One is jointly owned by Cai and Shi and the other is under the name of Cai.
Among the houses, with a combined floor space of over 7,200 square metres, are a 240-square-metre multi-storey house and a 3,405-square-metre factory building.
Cai is the latest in a number of Chinese officials who have been targeted by the country’s netizens and later investigated by disciplinary watchdogs.