China's top audit body has finally released the list of 42
central government departments which misappropriated State funds
last year.
Violators include powerful departments such as the National
Development and?Reform Commission and the ministries of
education, health, culture, commerce, personnel, finance,
agriculture, public security, railways and civil affairs.
Also on the list are the administrations of customs, sports,
forestry, and tourism as well as some ministerial-level
institutions like the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences and the National School of
Administration.
An announcement posted on the website of the National Audit
Office (NAO) late on Monday named the violators and the details of
their irregular implementation of the 2005 central budget.
But the list apparently fell short of the 48 central government
departments cited by Auditor-General Li Jinhua in his annual report
to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC)
on June 27.
Li told lawmakers that the 48 departments and 274 affiliated
units had misused 5.51 billion yuan (US$688 million) of the central
budget in 2005, but did not name them.
But the names of sensitive departments such as the ministries of
foreign affairs, State security, national defence and supervision
do not figure in the latest announcement.
The NAO has pledged to open all audit and investigation reports
to the public except for those concerning State secrets.
The Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday that 13 departments
named in the audit announcement had moved to correct their
wrongdoings and vowed to tighten control over budgets.
Monday's announcement, however, has again focused the spotlight
on rampant misuse of State funds due to lack of tight auditing
standards.
The transgressions range from reporting non-existent workers or
fabricated projects, embezzling special funds for constructing
office buildings to hiding revenues and fabricating
expenditures.
Auditors also found examples of unauthorized spending of cash
surpluses, bogus expense claims for receiving foreign guests,
unreported sales of assets, and the embezzlement of special and
scientific research funds.
Analysts said the NAO's move to make public the details will
ease concerns that it may break away from its aggressive approach
in uncovering inappropriate use of public funds.
Since 2003, when the NAO published the full text of its annual
audit report for the first time in China's history, Li has won
nationwide applause and fame.
Dubbed the "iron-faced auditor," Li has triggered an "audit
storm" each year through his frank and straightforward account of
problems in his annual audit report to the NPC, China's top
legislature, and a large number of government departments have been
exposed as misappropriating funds.
In response to media reports, one of Li's colleagues reportedly
argued that Li had chosen to focus on the bigger picture in his
annual report and leave details of specific cases to day-to-day
reports.
Some of the major cases of misappropriation and irregularities
revealed in Monday's audit announcement are:
The People's Bank of China, the central bank, spent 1.01 billion
yuan (US$126 million) on purchasing or building fixed assets
against rules, and misused 126 million yuan (US$15.75 million) of
operation expenses to pay employee salaries.
A State Forestry Administration department in charge of managing
World Bank loans misused 567 million yuan (US$70 million) allocated
to pay back to the World Bank, and spent 1.2 million yuan
(US$150,000) on staff members' personal investments.
The Beijing Railway Bureau under the Ministry of Railways
misappropriated 164 million yuan (US$20.5 million) from its coffers
to build a luxury villa hotel in Beijing's rural Shijingshan
District.
The Sports Fund Management Centre, affiliated to the State
General Administration of Sports, failed to record 138 million yuan
(US$17.25 million) of income from the sale of shares in one of its
limited liability companies.
In 2002, staff at the centre embezzled 27.87 million yuan
(US$3.48 million) from the public welfare lottery fund to invest in
securities. The sum had not been recovered by the end of 2005.
Staff at the Welfare Lottery Centre, affiliated to Ministry of
Civil Affairs, in 1996 embezzled 50 million yuan (US$6.25 million)
to deposit in a one-year fixed-term account to collect interest.
But the financial company, which is under liquidation, has not
refunded the principal capital, leaving the 50 million yuan
(US$6.25 million) of State assets in danger of loss.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs failed to report 749 million yuan
(US$93.6 million) in its public accounts.
The Beijing Institute of Technology, affiliated to the
Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National
Defence, misused 24.11 million yuan (US$3 million) of scientific
research funds to subsidize the purchase of apartments by its
employees.
(China Daily September 13, 2006)