An official with the Agricultural Bureau from the Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province was removed from his post after it was exposed that he used a government vehicle to travel to Laos during the National Day holiday. His actions were revealed when Web users uploaded photos of the vehicle in Laos, prompting heated discussions online, according to the Kunming-based yunnan.cn, a key Yunnan Province website.

Chinese travelers in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, saw an SUV printed with the Chinese characters reading "agricultural law enforcement" on Tuesday, and then took several pictures and uploaded them to the Internet. The photos quickly spread and hot discussions ensued as to why a government vehicle was in a foreign country during the holiday.

"The appearance of a government vehicle in a foreign country during the holiday shows that it may have been used privately by government employees for traveling purposes. It's a common phenomenon in China that needs to be curbed," said Web user "d98as2xl," the Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post reported.
Another Web user "xiulongchina" said, "It is time to curb the private use of public property by government employees," the user added.

Meanwhile, other Web users questioned the authenticity of the government vehicle.

Another Web user "fencuisha" believed the vehicle was an unlicensed stolen car.

"The SUV is a government vehicle, and it belongs to the Agricultural Bureau of Nanhua County in the Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture," an anonymous source with the Chuxiong government publicity department told the Global Times on Sunday.

The anonymous source also said that Zhao Chaowei, a high-ranking official with the law enforcement team from the Agricultural Bureau of Chuxiong, was dismissed from his post after he privately used an SUV for traveling abroad without first reporting to his supervisors.

"This event is still under investigation by an inspection team led by Hu Guiming, a deputy secretary from the Chuxiong discipline inspection commission, and Zhao's further punishment will be published after the investigation is complete," the anonymous source later told the Global Times.

The anonymous source was also unaware if the employees responsible for loaning the car to Zhao Chaowei would be reprimanded.

"The SUV was borrowed by Zhao Chaowei on the morning of September 29 and returned on October 7," an anonymous employee with the Agricultural Bureau of Nanhua County told the Global Times on Sunday, adding that they did not ask Zhao why he wanted to borrow the SUV because they thought it was work-related, furthermore Zhao did not tell them why he wanted to use the car.

No one else from the Agricultural Bureau of Nanhua County has been punished so far, according to the employee.

Right now the SUV is in the hands of the Chuxiong government, according to an announcement made on Sunday by its publicity department to the Global Times.