Society

Auditors sniff big misused funds trail

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-29 07:30

Auditors across the country have found 234.7 billion yuan ($34.4 billion) worth of funds misused from January to November this year, according to figures released by the National Audit Office yesterday.

A total of 67 government officials and 164 other related people have been handed over to disciplinary or judicial authorities, the office said.

The audit covered 99,000 companies, government bodies, public institutions, and retrieved funds worth 16.3 billion yuan, said Liu Jiayi, China's top auditor at the national auditing conference.

The audit was carried out among more than 20,000 government officials including provincial-level cadres and bosses of large State-owned enterprises.

The office has sent working groups to 55 central departments for audit inspection.

Despite some improvement, embezzlement, waste of money and false fiscal reporting still existed in central departments, Liu said.

Premier Wen Jiabao yesterday asked auditors to keep a close eye on public investment projects to help avoid embezzlement and waste of public funds.

Jerrybuilt projects and vanity projects should be strictly forbidden with the help of closer follow-up scrutiny of public funds, the premier told participants of the conference.

Wen urged auditors to strengthen budget enforcement auditing in order to guarantee an open and transparent fiscal budget for governments at all levels.

Auditing should shoulder the responsibility of safeguarding the country's economic security by detecting possible risks in economic operations, the premier said. As for now, special attention should be paid to fiscal and financial risks, he said.

Xinhua