A preliminary audit of government agencies by the National Audit Office has revealed that in the first 11 months of 2002 more than Yn200bn had been 'mislaid' by state agencies and Yn7.3bn had been lost by poor decision making. China Daily said the audits would continue for several months and the final report would be published in July.
Examples given of loss and waste included failure to collect nearly Yn5.9bn from the sale of land, on top of a loss of Yn839m from arbitrary cuts in land prices. Aviation was another troubled sector, with nearly Yn1.2bn intended for airport construction projects being misused and airlines owing the government Yn4.3bn in airport tax payments.
Although the report did not specify individual organisations at fault, the government's chief auditor, Li Junhua, said that two state-owned banks were involved in irregularities. China Construction Bank and Agricultural Development Bank of China were reported to be responsible for 51 illegal offences involving Yn2.27bn.