Economy

3.6b yuan embezzled funds recovered

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-06-28 09:20

BEIJING -- More than 3.585 billion yuan ($552 million) illegally taken from public funds last year has been recovered or returned, China's chief auditor said Monday.

Liu Jiayi, head of the National Audit Office, made the statement in a report submitted to the 21th session of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC), the top legislature.

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A total of 617 people have been punished in connection with the cases, Liu said.

According to Liu, most of these cases involved officials employing a third party to misappropriate public funds or using fake project contracts, certificates and other documents to cover illegal gains.

"These problems exposed that some officials were indifferent to laws and disciplines while relevant policies were not strictly implemented," Liu said.

Liu noted that the country's market economy is still not mature and relevant laws and regulations lack specific stipulations concerning punishment and have loopholes in the fields of cash management, electronic payment services and transfers between individual and corporation accounts.

According to Liu, 19 out of 32 major cases uncovered last year by auditors in the financial field involved a total of 743 million yuan illegally taken in cash. Another three cases that featured online banking services as the main payment method involved more than 50 billion yuan.