Chinese official dismissed for travelling abroad with public funds

An official in northwest China's Shaanxi province has been removed from his post after he was discovered to have travelled abroad using public funds, authorities said Tuesday.

Ye Qingchun, deputy head of Ningshan county, was confirmed to have travelled overseas for leisure with public funds and illegally engaged in profit-making activities in June and July of this year, Xinhua quoted officials of the disciplinary watchdog of Ankang city, which administers Ningshan, as saying.

Ye was also dismissed from his membership in the county's committee of the Communist Party of China, the sources said, adding that further investigation into his profit-making activities is under way.

Authorities were tipped off in September that Ye went abroad while accompanying a middle school delegation that was attending an international robot competition.

Other officials who were also on the tour, including the county's top education official and the school's party chief, received severe disciplinary warnings.