Government officials and heads of state-owned enterprises (SOEs)
will be held accountable for bad investment decisions that cause
huge economic losses, China's top auditor said yesterday.
Auditor-General Li Jinhua said inspectors will conduct economic
responsibility audits on government officials and SOE chiefs, and
assess the cost-effectiveness of major infrastructure projects in
order to avoid the misuse of State funds.
"In line with the newly-amended Audit Law, we will audit
government officials and SOE managers for their economic
responsibilities during their tenure in office," he said.
"Meanwhile, conducting cost-effectiveness audits on major
infrastructure projects will become a very important task for us at
the next stage."
The top auditor stressed the main aim of these audits is to
expose problems involving economic losses and wasted resources in
huge infrastructure projects.
Li made the comments on the sidelines of the on-going annual
session of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top
legislature.
He once warned of massive economic losses resulting from bad
investment decisions by government officials and SOE heads, saying,
"wrong decision-making is more serious than embezzlement and
corruption."
In his report to the NPC Standing Committee last June, Li said
auditors in a 2005 campaign discovered the illegal use of 1.6
billion yuan (US$198 million) in 10 large SOEs.
In stark contrast, economic losses caused by wrong
decision-making and mismanagement stood as high as 14.5 billion
yuan (US$1.7 billion) in these firms.
Growing calls for government officials and SOE heads to be held
responsible for bad decisions have been addressed in the
newly-amended Audit Law.
Article 25 of the law, amended by the NPC Standing Committee on
February 28, and to be enacted on June 1, authorizes auditors to
conduct economic responsibility audits for the first time.
Government officials and SOE heads will be audited for financial
incomes and expenses, and other economic activities in the regions
and departments under their leadership, according to the law.
Li yesterday also vowed to target the misuse of funds for huge
infrastructure projects this year. This comes as Premier Wen
Jiabao's calls for the building of a "saving country."
He said the central government's decision to increase its
spending on rural areas has made it vital for audit bodies at all
levels to pay more attention to any potential problems that may
arise.
"All audit administrations, from the top to the bottom level,
especially local ones, should give priority to the issue from now
on," he said.
"Special audit investigations on rural infrastructure projects
will also be launched in the future."
Premier Wen pledged to shift the government's infrastructure
investment priority from cities to the countryside during his
government work report delivered on Sunday to nearly 3,000
lawmakers.
The government plans to spend 339.7 billion yuan (US$42.3
billion) this year, and billions more in the next five years as a
major effort to push ahead with the plan to build a new socialist
countryside, the premier said.
(China Daily March 10, 2006)