BEIJING, Sept. 28 -- The punishment of four housing ministry officials for awarding annual bonuses to colleagues should help curb a practice frowned upon under the country's anti-corruption campaign.

Cao Jinbiao, a former department head with the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, has been given an official warning for distributing cash bonuses, announced the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China (CCDI) on Sunday.

Along with three other officials of the department, Cao was found to be responsible for granting each colleague 10,000 yuan (1,630.9 U.S. dollars) as "service fees" before the Spring Festival earlier this year, according to a statement from the CCDI.

The three other officials were also warned or "ordered to reflect," said the statement.

The CCDI said it had recovered the money without disclosing the full sum. It said the act was a serious violation of China's anti-bureaucracy and formalism rules.

The case was uncovered by a CCDI inspection team dispatched to the ministry.