Problems found in an audit of key funds and projects last year involving the misuse of about 663 billion yuan ($95 billion) have been mostly rectified, according to a report delivered to the ongoing session of the country's top legislature.

Wang Benqiang, deputy head of the National Audit Office, delivered a report on the rectification of problems found in the audit of the central budget's implementation and other financial revenues and expenditures for 2021 to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the top legislature, for review on Wednesday.

As of September, some 4,400 problems unearthed in audits last year that required immediate correction have been rectified, accounting for 96 percent of the total, one percentage point higher than the previous year, the report said.

Authorities formulated or improved 2,800 rules and regulations to fix loopholes, and held 14,000 people accountable, data showed.

"Substantial breakthroughs have been made in the rectification of major problems," Wang said.

"Some tough problems that impeded reform and development and remained unresolved for a long time have been rectified," he said.

According to the report, the misuse of about 178 billion yuan in areas related to livelihoods has been rectified to ensure government funds are properly used in such areas as employment, medical care, housing, agriculture and rural vitalization.

Problems found in the implementation of policies related to employment have been resolved, it said, with eight provinces ordering colleges and departments to verify the employment situation of graduates and related statistics.

Seven provinces have investigated fraud involving fictitious labor relations to recover about 19 million yuan in unemployment insurance compensation.

To ensure relief and supplementary assistance are in place for needy groups, more than 70,000 eligible people were provided with living assistance and more than 100,000 people received medical assistance after problems found in audits were rectified, it said.

Efforts were also made to solve the problems of formalism in the improvement of rural toilets, the misuse of agricultural insurance subsidy funds, and illegal housing loans.

The relevant departments are investigating more than 300 cases of suspected violations of discipline and law transferred to them during the audit process, and stepping up efforts to recover stolen goods, it said.

(This article was published on Page 4 of the December 29, 2022 issue of China Daily with the title “Misuse of funds, fraud uncovered by audit”. Author: Zhang Yi.

Source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202212/29/WS63acf53ea31057c47eba6c4c.html)