Six government officials, including Jia Anqing, ex-chief of the Shaanxi Sports Lottery Center, were in criminal custody for dereliction of duty or abuse of power, said Zhang Qijun, vice head of Shaanxi Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC, on Tuesday.

Other officials detained included Zhang Yongmin, former deputy head of the Shaanxi Sports Lottery Center, Fan Hong, former head of the Xi'an Sports Lottery Center, Wu Yanhua, and Tian Weidong, both of the Shaanxi Sports Lottery Center, and Dong Ping, of the Xincheng District notary office in Xi'an.

Zhao Zhengyong, head of an investigation team, said Yang Yongming, former contractor for lottery ticket sales in Xi'an, was pleading guilty to bribing government officials.

Between March 20 and 25, Yang Yongming allegedly cheated on the four top prizes, each one involving a BMW car and 120,000 yuan (US$14,458), by marking lottery tickets and employing four people to falsely claim the top prizes.

(Shenzhen Daily June 9, 2004)