A dozen senior women officials from Beijing are under investigations for lavishing government fund worth millions of Yuan on anti-ageing and exotic beauty treatment at luxurious beauty parlours.
Investigations were started after a complaint a labour union leader, Bai Hong, from the
Beijing Health Bureau.
It was revealed that between “July 2006 and March 2011, Bai embezzled 3.39 million Yuan (US$544,095) used for beauty,” the Beijing-based Procuratorial Daily reported.
“After a tip in 2011, Bai, in charge of the union’s finance and accounting, was found to have handed over large amounts of invoices, mainly issued by four companies as fees for meetings, training and office supplies related to union activities — while the real expenses were for beauty services,” the report said.
Prosecutors looking into the case said many of the suspects are in their 40s and 50s and obsessed with improving their looks — some of them are estimated to have been to high-end parlours hundreds of times.
“When those female officials were caught, they looked gorgeous and young. However, when the prosecutors’ office staff visited them later in jail, they looked old and gray,” Wu Min, a media officer of The First Branch of Beijing Municipal People’s Procuratorate told state media.