Between 2000 and June this year, 174,000 Party and government
officials up to the county level and employees of state-owned and
state-holding enterprises took part in the ongoing audit of
economic responsibilities.
Cases involving 3,253 officials were handed to disciplinary and
judicial departments to deal with and 1,232 officials received
disciplinary action from Party and government departments.
In the same period, 14,000 officials were selected and
appointed, 1,730 were demoted and 983 were dismissed.
Li Jinhua, director of the State Auditing Administration, said
at a national conference on the auditing of economic responsibility
that it plays an active role in improving the system for selecting
and appointing officials and in preventing and combating
corruption.
The audit found breaches of discipline or regulations involving
391.2 billion yuan, with an additional 25.2 billion yuan lost or
wasted and 339.8 billion yuan under improper management.
Officials' misconduct was behind 33.3 billion yuan of this: 20.4
billion yuan in breach of disciplines or regulations, 2.1 billion
yuan lost or wasted and 10.8 billion yuan under improper
management.
All levels of the Party and government say they attach great
importance to the problems exposed by the audit. While
investigating violations, they are intensifying education of
officials and adopting systems to regulate their behavior.
Li said that this year's reform of the State Auditing
Administration has helped to yield its best results in 20
years.
From January 1, the audit will be extended to include cadres at
city and provincial levels.
(Xinhua News Agency, translated by Yuan Fang for China.org.cn,
December 2, 2004)