Surprise 'Singles Day' raids by party inspectors catch officials shopping online

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Surprise 'Singles Day' raids by party inspectors catch officials shopping online

Inspectors made unannounced visits to local government offices and took photographs as evidence after spotting cadres or civil servants on shopping websites

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 12 November, 2014, 12:40pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 12 November, 2014, 6:26pm

He Huifeng [email protected]

Jack Ma, Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group, gives a statement beside an electronic board at Alibaba headquarters in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Photo: EPA

Surprise raids on dozens of government departments over the "Singles Day" shopping bonanza on Tuesday have caught local officials shopping online.

Seven government workers in Yongkang, Zhejiang, were found out during a city-wide raid by the local party discipline commission which targeted 58 government departments and state-run organisations, news website zjol.com.cn reported.

Party inspection officials made unannounced visits to the offices and took photographs as evidence after spotting cadres or civil servants on shopping websites.

The officials were given oral warnings and other punishment, the site said.

"Singles Day" on November 11, a Chinese version of Valentine’s Day for people without romantic partners, has become the busiest online shopping day in China and around the world.

Mainland e-commerce giant Alibaba saw its online sales for "Singles Day" on Monday reach 57.1 billion yuan. Photo: Xinhua

Online retail giant Alibaba says it earned 57.1 billion yuan in sales from the this year "Singles Day" bonanza.

The day has become the big headache to private and public sector employers as many employees try to snap up online bargains during work hours. State media have reported employees being fired after shopping online, officials being fined and even couples breaking up.

In addition to Yongkang, other provincial and municipal governments launched similar raids on Monday to catch out staff shopping online during work hours.

There were operations in Yanhe county and Bijie city in Guizhou and Hanjiang city and Songxi county in Fujian. But the authorities have not released yet how many officials were caught.

Tens of millions of internet users went online to go shopping on Monday. Mainland media reported many employees applied for a day off to shop while others were thought to be taking time off to stop partners from going online and spending too much money.

Some companies even took to cutting internet connections for Monday as other firms awarded bonuses for employees who did not shop online.