A Chinese government official is suspected to have gambled away $11.25 million of public funds in casinos abroad. Li Weimin, a township head in the city of Dongguan, Guangdong Province, allegedly lost more than $10 million in overseas casinos between 2001 and 2004. He also lost $500,000 in a casino in Macau in one night.
On top of this, Li is also suspected to have taken bribes from developers, to whom he gave land use rights and also received bribes in exchange to granting government loans to private companies.
Li visited casinos in Macau and Hong Kong more than 250 times between 2001 and 2004. Even though gambling is illegal in China, it is legal in Macau, a former Portuguese colony, which now boasts new Las Vegas style casinos and attracts an ever growing number of gamblers each year.
Li was promoted to head of Tangxia in 2001, after serving as deputy town head for 11 years. His misconduct was discovered when the local auditing department launched an auditing campaign after Li was transferred to another position in the city in early 2005.
Even though Li's monthly salary was less than $620, he and his wife owned 30 apartments, with a total value of more than $12 million and he was one of the most wealthy government officials in his province.
Dongguan Intermediate People's Court opened a public hearing on Li's case in August, but has not yet ruled on it.
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