County officials in Sichuan province have been outed for allegedly using the public purse to pay for a shemale show in Thailand five years ago, Newssc.org reported on Friday.

The alleged incident took place in 2004 but came to light after a netizen, tagged Zhaoyaojing, published photos online on Tuesday on the forum bbs.scol.com.cn. The netizen is understood to have put the photos on the Internet in a bid to expose the apparent misuse of public funds by the officials from Luxian county in Luzhou, Sichuan province.

The netizen posted three names and job titles along with the photos: Yang Shaoquan, the chief of Xuantan town in Luxian county; Ai Yahui, the vice-chief of the county's technology department; and Hong Daifu, director of the county's supply and marketing cooperative.

The photos have since been removed from the website.

"You have to understand that we are under a lot pressure and therefore we deleted the photos the netizen published online," said a news center editor with bbs.scol.com.cn, who declined to give his name.

The website refused to share the name and contact information of the whistleblower.

Beijing News republished one of the photos on Friday, which shows a man wearing glasses pulling cash from his T-shirt pocket, while a half-naked shemale stands next to him holding a wad of banknotes.

In another photo, a man stands next to a bikini-clad shemale in front of a sign reading "20 Baht each for taking a photo".

Another photo, republished by Sichuan-based West China Metropolis Daily on Friday, shows several shirtless officials having dinner at a round table.

By 6:30 pm on Friday, nearly 14,000 people had read the account of the incident published online by the netizen Zhaoyaojing.

Some 240 netizens had made online comments about the alleged misuse of public money.

"I don't know what kind of 'inspection' the officials did in Thailand. They look no different to the tourists," said a netizen named Duanheqiao.

On Wednesday, an investigation into the conduct of the five officials was launched by the county discipline inspection commission under the Communist Party of China (CPC) Luxian county committee.

"The incident is still under investigation and we'll deal with it seriously," said an official involved with the probe.

In 2004, the county's organization department and investment promotion bureau jointly held a one-year training course on market economy and business administration for local officials and business professionals. The course was aimed at helping them learn about and promote the county's economic and social development.

The course provider, Sichuan Union Vocational School, organized an overseas inspection tour for the trainees to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

(China Daily August 15, 2009)