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Chinese officials probed for misspending public stimulus cash

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-12-25 11:18

China's most senior official investigators Thursday revealed they had dealt with 88 cases of misspending of the government's 4-trillion ($586 billion) stimulus package money a year after its introduction.

The cases involved 198 Party officials, said Wang Wei, Vice Minister of Supervision and a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, at a press conference held at the State Council Information Office.

He cited four examples of how government money was misspent:

-- Leaders of Gaoping district, of Nanchong city, Sichuan province, were given warnings or fired for awarding a 2-million-yuan hospital demolition project to a company in violation of tendering and bidding laws.

-- Officials of Datong city, Shanxi province, were given warnings for using 760,000 yuan ($111,270) intended for an airport expansion to buy a sports-utility vehicle. Major officials in charge of the airport got a demerit in their official records and the SUV was auctioned.

-- Leaders of the water resources bureau of Changjiang Li nationality autonomous county, Hainan province, were given warnings or fired for helping project contractors to get a 190,000-yuan payment by making a false report about the finished portion of a water and land conservation project.

-- Officials of Jili district, of Luoyang city, Henan province, were given warnings for approving a substandard sewage treatment plant project.

Wang said investigations had held 39 officials accountable, of whom 26 were dismissed, six were suspended from their posts, one resigned, and six made public apologies.

Disciplinary authorities had penalized 141 officials and referred 12 officials for prosecution for violating rules in implementing the stimulus package, said Wang.

The cases stemmed from special inspections by the Ministry of Supervision, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, and the National Audit Office (NAO).

In November 2008, the four ministries formed a leading group to supervise and inspect government acts in implementing the stimulus package.

Meanwhile, the NAO, after an investigation in September and October, announced it had found no cases stimulus cash going to high-polluting and high-energy-consuming sectors, or sectors with overcapacity.

Auditors found no major waste or loss of stimulus money and the implementation of the package was generally good, said Dong Dasheng, vice chief auditor of the NAO.

However, some problems were detected, he said.

The package stipulated that 1.18 trillion yuan, or 29 percent of the total, would be from the central government, and the remainder from local governments and the private sector.

Up to 40 percent of local funds in some regions were yet to be allocated due to financial difficulties of local governments, or allocation into profit-making projects instead of the planned projects, said Dong.

However, sometimes the funds were just not required, said Dong.

Substandard construction and diversions of stimulus money for other purposes were among other main problems, said Dong.

The government launched the 4-trillion stimulus package in November last year to expand domestic demand and promote economic growth amid the financial crisis.