700 officials are punished in the wake of audit office findings
About 700 officials have been punished and 21 billion yuan recovered in the six months since the National Audit Office published shocking revelations about rampant government corruption and the misuse of public funds, state media reports say.
A 26-page audit office report giving details of the clean-up was presented to this week's 13th session of the 10th National People's Congress Standing Committee, Xinhua said yesterday.
Premier Wen Jiabao had publicly promised to look into the problems, highlighted by Auditor-General Li Jinhua in June, and give a formal response to NPC deputies and the public, Xinhua reported.
The audit office report marked a concrete step towards a more transparent and responsible government, according to a senior expert with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Kang Xiaoguang, of the academy's Centre for China Studies, said the announcement of audit findings relating to government entities and the release of details of the government's response were welcome signs that the people's right to government information had been acknowledged.
Xinhua said 40 government departments had 'rectified their mistakes'. About 80 per cent of 1.42 billion yuan in misappropriated public funds - originally budgeted for rental allowances and the construction of office buildings - had been returned.