China Audit Finds $1.9B Embezzlement – Associated Press

From Businessweek:

Auditors have found Chinese officials stole or misused $1.9 billion in pension funds and other government money, a state news agency quoted China’s chief auditor as saying Wednesday.

Cases uncovered in the latest investigations stretched back to before 2000, Auditor General Li Jinhua said in a report to China’s legislature, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

The misused or stolen money included $930 million in pension and social welfare funds, Xinhua cited Li as saying. It gave no details of who was accused of stealing money or whether it was recovered. [Full Text]

Here is a list of the amounts embezzled (from the Auditor General’s report to the legislature, translated by CDT):

State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, Ministry of Education, and 17 other departments: 19 billion yuan

Ninety-two subsidiaries under the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Culture, and 23 other departments: 2.76 billion yuan

Fifty subsidiaries under the China Academy of Science, Ministry of Water Resources, and 11 other departments: 2.28 billion yuan

Five subsidiaries under the General Administration of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Information Industry, and two other departments: 1.74 billion yuan

Office of South-to-North Water Diversion, China Customs, and 31 other departments: 859 million yuan

China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, General Administration of Press and Publication, and 13 other departments: 394 million yuan

Sixteen subsidiaries under Ministry of Agriculture, State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, and 9 other departments: 249 million yuan

Ministry of Health, State Information Center, and 10 other departments: 185 million yuan

See the whole Auditor General’s report to the legislature from Sina.com.cn in Chinese. See also a People’s Daily report on the embezzled social security funds, which includes the case of former Shanghai Party secretary Chen Liangyu.