China detains officials over misuse of $6.2 billion

China has detained 28 officials following a national audit for their role in misusing more than $6.2 billion in government funds last year, China's top auditor said on Wednesday.
The National Development and Reform Commission, China's top planning body, was among those found to have siphoned off or transferred government funds for outside investment or to build extravagant office buildings, according to the report.
The national audit, which covered 56 central and 434 lower level offices, found that more than 46.88 billion yuan ($6.2 billion) of government money was misused, the central government said on its web site (www.gov.cn).
Anger at corrupt officials is a major cause of unrest in China, and the country's Communist rulers have warned that if graft is not checked it could threaten the party's grip on power.
"Nine departments from six ministries, including the Ministry of Railways and State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, have used measures such as faking spending items to swindle funds," the chief auditor Li Jinhua was quoted as saying.
Transgressions included "inappropriate management", "violation of laws" and "waste", it said. Violators included the Culture Ministry and Customs Administration.
Nonetheless, the amount of money misused dropped by 53 percent in 2006 compared with the previous year, it said. "The result of the audit shows... the problems concerning violation of rules and lack of management have been reduced," the auditor said.
China has revealed a series of scandals involving officials misappropriating government funds. An investigation last year into the misuse of Shanghai's 10 billion yuan social security fund has implicated more than a dozen senior city officials and businessmen, including the city's former Communist Party chief Chen Liangyu, who became the most senior Chinese Communist Party official to be sacked since 1995.
A total of 7.1 billion yuan of social security funds have been misused elsewhere in China since 2000, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing the auditor Li. China has conducted a national audit every year in recent years. After the last one, 94 officials were arrested, sued or sentenced, and 177 people received punishment from the Communist Party, Li was quoted as saying.
More than $4 billion of government funds were squandered last year, state media said in January, despite repeated Communist Party campaigns to rein in corruption and waste.