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A TOTAL of 138,867 officials had been punished for violating austerity rules since late 2012, China's top anti-graft body announced Thursday.



The Communist Party of China (CPC) central leadership launched a frugality campaign in December 2012, adopting the "eight-point rules" to improve Party and government officials' work style.



Seven provincial and ministerial level officials were among the punished in 104,934 violation cases in the past three years, about a fifth of which involved private use of vehicles for public services, the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said.



Lavish weddings and funerals, public money spending on dining and traveling as well as illicit gifts giving and receiving were included in those violations.



CCDI statistics showed that 24,521 violations involving 30,420 officials were reported in 2013. A total of 71,748 violators in 53,085 cases were disciplined in 2014.



From January to November this year, 27,328 cases were reported violating austerity codes and 36,699 officials were punished.



This year's data indicated a drastic increase of violations concerning unauthorized spending, with public funds, on dining and traveling abroad compared with figures in 2014.