Guangdong officials cited for budget misuse

Nearly RMB 1 billion (US$113 million) of public money was misappropriated by Guangdong authorities in 2003, provincial auditor Zeng Shouxi told the Guangdong people's congress. While money was being misspent, tax collection came up short by RMB 536 million, the auditor said. Among misdeeds cited: RMB 38 million allocated for the fishery port construction was either stolen or misspent; RMB 93 million allocated for irrigation projects has yet to be accounted for, and RMB 54 million was embezzled outright. Provincial peasants paid a price, the auditor found: they received only 20-40% of the compensation they were supposed to get for land reclamation.