Construction projects associated with the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games have been identified
by the Chinese National Audit Office (CNAO) as their top priorities
in this year's auditing work, Li Jinhua, auditor-general of the
CNAO, said yesterday.
The move is designed to guarantee the effective use of funds and
to ensure corruption is kept away from Olympic projects, Li said at
the annual auditing work conference.
Li said the CNAO would audit major government investment
projects and "investigate and prosecute according to law if any
bribery is discovered."
Former deputy mayor of Beijing, Liu Zhihua, who was responsible
for US$40 billion of Olympic construction funding, was fired last
year for alleged corruption.
Liu Qi, chair of the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee, said
the CNAO had been supervising the financial statements of Olympic
projects since the outset and the Beijing Audit Bureau along with
them had jointly conducted reviews.
Liu gave assurances that the projects were being supervised and
strictly audited and the funds?had been?used according to
regulations.
The CNAO also planned to give priority in 2007 to the
south-to-north water diversion project and major railway
construction contracts, said Li.
Li also explained at the work conference that for the year 2006
the CNAO had discovered 7.1 billion yuan (US$909.5 million) in
illegally used social security funds.
?
The money was illegally borrowed, used or deposited. The amount
includes 2.3 billion yuan (US$294.6 million)?that was misused
before 1999.
The CNAO audited the pension fund for enterprise employees,
medical insurance for urban workers and the unemployment insurance
fund in 29 regions and five selected cities.
Li said seven special funds, worth a total of more than 1
trillion yuan (US$128.1 billion), were audited in 2006.
They're used for transfer payments to local governments, social
security, public housing, natural forest conservation, the
resettlement and control of geological problems in the Three Gorges
area and the control of sand storms in the Beijing-Tianjin
region.
Li said the management and use of the funds was generally good
despite the problems discovered.
The audit of the Three Gorges resettlement fund discovered 200
million yuan (US$25.6 million) was illegally claimed or used and
five cases of misappropriation have been given to judicial
institutions.
Li said this year the CNAO would strengthen auditing and
supervision of public service sectors as well as special funds
covering agriculture, education, medical, social security and
environmental protection.
(Xinhua News Agency January 9, 2007)