China’s graft watchdog warns officials over ‘concealed’ extravagance

BEIJING: Chinese officials trying to hide dishonest spending with tricks such as throwing extravagant parties in private will be targeted in a sustained campaign to root out hedonism, the top anti-graft watchdog said on Monday. Concealing spending by holding lavish dinners in private homes, passing off pampering at a spa as “recuperation” from work and going sightseeing while on business trips are all in the sights of the graft busters. President Xi Jinping has waged a five-year war on graft at all levels of the ruling Communist Party, from high-level “tigers” to lowly “flies” and has pledged to keep up the fight until officials dare not, cannot and do not want to be corrupt.