China’s top auditing body finds over $38 bn misuse of funds

China's top auditing body has uncovered misuse of over $38 billion funds in its latest audit, which led to investigations against 321 officials, according to reports in the state media yesterday, PTI reported.

According to Liu Jiayi, head of the National Audit Office (NAO), in the national auditing work conference that involved audit inspection of   20,000 officials, misuse of funds to the tune of over 250 billion yuan ($38 billion) was uncovered.

The Global Times quoted Liu as saying, the NAO had handed over 321 officials and related staff to judicial and discipline inspection authorities.

Audit authorities had been promoting the efficient use of funds, the smooth implementation of projects and identifying malpractices, according to Liu. He added that authorities had audited 700,000 companies or institutions and retrieved over 1.7 trillion yuan.

"The top auditor has played an important role in cracking down on corruption. And the Party strengthened its anti-graft campaign in 2015 by arresting corrupt officials and punishing them," Deng Lianfan, an anti-corruption expert from Hunan Province, told the daily.