As selling land has become the main income driver for local governments, some local authorities are allowing developers to use land for illegal purposes, a statement released by the Ministry of Land and Resources said on Monday.

The statement revealed the punishments for four illegal land use cases from April to June. Local governments were involved in half of the cases.

In a case where the local government sold land for an illegal villa development project in Heping county, Guangdong province, Huang Xiaoping, former deputy head of the county government, and Yang Tengqing, current deputy head of the county government, received administrative punishments and other penalties.

Another case involved illegal land use in an economic development zone in Yizhang county, Hunan province. Li Geyun, deputy director of the zone's company services bureau, and Hu Zhanbing, director of the work safety station in Baishidu town, were also punished, according to the statement.