Departments of Chinese government have improved their use of
budget funds in recent years, thanks to better regulations and
management as well as self-discipline.
After auditing 40 central departments, government auditors
concluded that the number of irregularities found in these
departments is on the decrease while budget management is
improving.
The report was presented on Monday at a national working
conference on auditing by Li Jinhua, auditor-general of the
National Audit Office (CNAO),
on behalf of over 80,000 auditors in the country at all levels.
In the first 11 months of this year, central and local
government auditors looked into some 91,000 government departments
and institutions that receive budget funds, and discovered various
kinds of irregularities involving more than 290 billion yuan (about
US$36 billion).
Over 1,370 cases were transferred to judicial departments for
criminal investigation, according to Li.
In the same period, the auditors checked 6,020 state companies
to discover irregularities involving a total of 44.9 billion yuan
(about US$5.5 billion).
Meanwhile, the auditors audited some 22,000 leading officials at
different levels, and detected irregularities involving 35 billion
yuan (about US$4.35 billion). A number of these officials were
punished by law or by disciplinary sanction.
The auditor-general said that in 2006, the National Audit Office
plans to step up auditing on the implementation of budgets, the use
of special funds, the financial activities of branches of
commercial banks, and will also continue to audit the financial
responsibilities of leading officials at provincial and ministerial
levels.
(Xinhua News Agency December 28, 2005)