Thursday 19 February 2009

China’s banks misused $1b

Chinese banks and other financial institutions embezzled or misappropriated hundreds of millions of dollars last year, the country’s top auditor said on Thursday.

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Guanyu said...

China’s banks misused $1b

AFP
19 February 2009

BEIJING - Chinese banks and other financial institutions embezzled or misappropriated hundreds of millions of dollars last year, the country’s top auditor said on Thursday.

Six billion yuan (S$1.34 billion) was misused in 20 major cases uncovered during investigations of financial institutions in 2008, Liu Jiayi, auditor general of the National Audit Office, told reporters.

About half of the cases involved Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China and Construction Bank of China, three of China’s biggest state-owned banks that are also listed on the stock market, Mr. Liu said.

‘The auditing of the three banks and other financial institutions... will facilitate the healthy development of the stock market because it... can boost confidence by providing true, accurate and complete information to the public,’ he said.

Most of the funds have been returned, although police are still investigating some of the cases, Mr. Liu said.

In response to concerns over possible misuse of China’s four-trillion-yuan economic stimulus package and funds allocated for rebuilding areas hit by last year’s earthquake, Mr. Liu said no major problems had been found.

The magnitude-8.0 earthquake hit China’s southwest on May 12 last year, leaving up to 88,000 people dead or missing, and billions of dollars have been spent on reconstruction work.

China’s auditor is required to audit the government’s central budget, which includes the transfer of payments to the regions, official investments and use of social security funds.

President Hu Jintao has repeatedly acknowledged that corruption is one of the greatest threats to the legitimacy of the ruling Communist Party.

The government regularly announces major crackdowns on graft in official ranks in an effort to show the population that efforts are being made to extinguish corruption.