Official asked to pay back birthday money

The political advisory body in Shanxi province confirmed media reports on Sunday about an official who took money through social media platform WeChat.

Xing Yanjun, who works for the Shanxi Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, was found to have received 500 yuan ($74) through WeChat, the committee said in a statement.

"The personnel department and the disciplinary department of the committee have asked Xing to return the money and make a thorough self-criticism. The disciplinary department is still looking into the matter and will make a decision in line with relevant regulations and discipline," the statement said.

Xing, who held a position equivalent to a township-level government official in the administrative body of the committee, had also taken a part-time job at a private tutoring organization for public servant examinations, it said.

A preliminary investigation by the committee found that Xing received 58 red envelopes with cash from a WeChat group to celebrate his birthday on June 23.

A report by Beijing News cited screenshots of a WeChat group called "Public Servant Xing Yanjun", which has 460 members - students from the tutoring organization.

The report said a member named "Xing Yanjun" asked anybody who had failed to send congratulations on his birthday - along with a so-called red envelope, or money - to quit the chat group.

Jiang Ming'an, a law professor of government administration at Peking University, said public servants are strictly prohibited from benefiting from jobs outside the organizations they work for.

According to the Public Servant Law, public servants are prohibited from holding positions in any organization that is for profit, and they are not allowed to take part in any outside activity that is for profit.

Jiang said staff members who work for the committee are public servants who must abide by the law.

He said the law does not apply to members of the CPPCC (the political advisory body) because they are not employees of the administrative body of the CPPCC.