A former disease control center official in east China's Zhejiang Province is facing sentence for squandering 1.24 million yuan (181,488 U.S. dollars) of public money in karaoke bars.

Lu Yanbiao, 42, director of the outpatient department of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Shangyu City, withheld fees paid to support a lavish lifestyle, the Shaoxing City Intermediate People's Court heard Wednesday.

Lu indulged himself drinking, singing in karaoke bars and playing mahjong between 2004 and 2008, prosecutors said.

Lu, a divorcee, visited almost all the high-end karaoke bars in Shangyu. In the most frequent case, he visited a karaoke bar 16 times in a month. He also always asked for escorts, who cost between 2,000 to 5,000 yuan each time, a bar manager said.

Even after he fled to Jinhua City, he spent 20,000 yuan in karaoke bars.

Lu was arrested in January in Shaoxing City. He admitted the charges and the court will hand down a verdict soon.

(Xinhua News Agency July 30, 2009)