How rural spending programmes became the growth area for graft

Public funds allocated to agriculture projects have become a "growth area" for corruption as China has invested heavily in rural regions over the past decade, recent anti-corruption investigations have found.

Some 6,000 cases of rural spending fraud, totalling more than 2 billion yuan (HK$2.5 billion) - were investigated across the mainland in the past year, state media reported, citing the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).

According to the CCDI report, money was embezzled from funds allocated for infrastructure projects, land requisition, renovation of dilapidated houses and basic living allowances for farmers, Xinhua reported.

Weak accountability and a complex system of investment funds were blamed for failing to prevent the fraud, critics said.

Agricultural spending, once considered largely corruption-free, became seriously affected by fraud as Beijing funnelled more funds into rural development in a bid to narrow the growing wealth gap between the city and countryside, observers said.

Official data showed that the central government's total expenditure exceeded 6.4 trillion yuan last year, with more than 1.3 trillion going to rural areas. In comparison, a decade ago when agricultural subsidies were introduced, spending on rural regions was about 262 billion yuan.