Seven officials of a county in the northern province of Shanxi were punished for organizing overseas trips sponsored by local businesses last year, the China Daily reported Monday.

From May 30 to December 20, the local legislature in Jiaokou, a county under the jurisdiction of the city of Luliang, sent officials and employees on the trips.

The daily said that the tours cost around 540,000 yuan (78,000 U.S. dollars), with all monies provided by local companies.

officials involved in this case violated the regulation that all Party officials and public servants must report to related departments before going abroad and those trips must not be sponsored or subsidized by companies.

Han Fuping, the county's Party secretary and director of the Standing Committee of the local People's Congress, has been sacked from his post.

Six other officials involved in the scandal have also been punished and all members of the tour groups have been asked to repay the costs.

These officials' deeds have had a "very bad influence" on the public, the provincial disciplinary department said.

The Shanxi officials' trip is the latest in a string of controversial overseas excursions of government officials in recent years.

In August 2007, a group of 10 people from Anhui province was found to be using public funds for a trip to Finland.

Last November, three officials from Jiangxi province lost their posts for organizing a sightseeing trip to Canada, spending nearly 330,000 yuan.

In February, a number of officials in Guangdong province were discovered to have enjoyed a 14-day trip overseas at public expense.

"The current situation of such a practice (officials using public money for overseas trips) is very serious in China," Qu Wanxiang, deputy director of the National Bureau of Corruption Prevention, was quoted by China News Service as saying during this year's session of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in early March.

The Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council have issued a document instructing governments at all levels to stop the practice and strictly follow the assessment and approval procedures for overseas inspection tours.

Public administration expert Shen Ronghua warned that "the current punishment measures for those officials remains too light."

"That's why such a practice cannot be stopped in China."

(Xinhua News Agency?April 13, 2009)