The China National Audit Office yesterday said 23 people had been arrested in connection with 9.3 billion yuan in illegal loans made by three big mainland banks.
Last year, the agency said a lengthy investigation had uncovered the illegal loans by Bank of China, Bank of Communications and China Merchants Bank dating back to 2005.
Yesterday, it said that in addition to announcing the arrests, 163 people from the three lenders were disciplined. One senior official is still under investigation.
The audit office found that the banks had lent money to fictitious individuals and companies with insufficient capital.
They also lent more money to certain developers than they were entitled to, it said.
Of the illegal loans, 5.51 billion yuan was extended by Bank of China, 1.94 billion yuan by Bank of Communications and 1.9 billion yuan from China Merchants Bank.