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Cultura

Shanghai vice major roasted for banquet amid graft crackdown


    BEIJING (Reuters) - The graft watchdog for China's ruling Communist Party said on Monday said it had given a "serious warning" to a vice mayor in the country's glamorous financial hub of Shanghai for attending a banquet that had been paid for using public funds.

    Tales of corruption and high living, including extravagant banquets and expensive rounds on golf courses, have stirred widespread public anger because bureaucrats are meant to live on modest sums and lead morally exemplary lives.

    President Xi Jinping has launched a sweeping crackdown on graft since assuming office three years ago, warning, as others have before him, the problem is so severe it could affect the party's grip on power.

    In a brief statement, the party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said Shanghai Vice Mayor Zhou Bo had attending a banquet paid for with public funds, which is against the rules.

    He has been given a "serious" internal party warning, it added, without elaborating.

    (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Nick Macfie)