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Sunday, 15 November 2009
515m yuan fraud in river clean-up campaign
Eleven of the 13 provinces in a river clean-up programme across the mainland either misused or faked spending totalling 515 million yuan (HK$584 million) over seven years, a state audit has found.
Eleven of the 13 provinces in a river clean-up programme across the mainland either misused or faked spending totalling 515 million yuan (HK$584 million) over seven years, a state audit has found.
Environmentalists praised the finding by the National Audit Office for revealing one of the factors responsible for the lack of progress in improving water quality.
The office said seven provinces had used 403 million yuan of special environmental funding for other purposes, and four had created 112 million yuan in fake spending records to claim reimbursement.
The office said the 13 provinces involved in the campaign had also either misused or failed to collect up to 3.65 billion yuan in waste-water processing fees, which should have been invested in clean-up projects.
The audit report also said it was reviewing the 91 billion yuan in state investment meant for the clean-up of the Liao, Hai and Huai rivers, and Tai, Chao and Dianchi lakes from 2001 to 2007. Measures were being taken to track the money, the office said, and officials responsible for fraud would be investigated and punished.
The news followed a series of Xinhua editorials last month hailing apparent progress in environmental protection, citing the five billion yuan a year investment on the “three rivers and three lakes” clean-up campaign in 2007 and last year as an example.
The audit office’s evaluation was less jubilant yesterday, saying the overall water quality in the rivers and lakes was still bad, even though “certain improvements” had been detected.
It said many so-called environmental protection policies covering the rivers and lakes had never been seriously executed, and regional governments had failed to stop polluters such as chemical and paper manufacturers from building new factories along the rivers and lakes.
Prominent environmentalist Wang Yongchen said the audit report would not be able to prevent special environmental protection funds being abused in the future.
“The key issue here is the lack of transparency and outside supervision,” she said. “Officials [in charge of the funding] basically spend the money wherever they want, and nobody outside the system has the tools or means to review their spending.”
Water pollution has been an increasing headache for the central government, with regional administrations giving a higher priority to industrial development than environmental concerns.
Wang said the central government had invested billions of yuan in river and lake protection projects in the past decade, but the money had been spent largely without outside supervision.
“The government should invite environmental protection groups and NGOs into their water protection projects,” she said. “Otherwise, there will be no outside forces to advise and monitor these projects.”
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515m yuan fraud in river clean-up campaign
Al Guo
29 October 2009
Eleven of the 13 provinces in a river clean-up programme across the mainland either misused or faked spending totalling 515 million yuan (HK$584 million) over seven years, a state audit has found.
Environmentalists praised the finding by the National Audit Office for revealing one of the factors responsible for the lack of progress in improving water quality.
The office said seven provinces had used 403 million yuan of special environmental funding for other purposes, and four had created 112 million yuan in fake spending records to claim reimbursement.
The office said the 13 provinces involved in the campaign had also either misused or failed to collect up to 3.65 billion yuan in waste-water processing fees, which should have been invested in clean-up projects.
The audit report also said it was reviewing the 91 billion yuan in state investment meant for the clean-up of the Liao, Hai and Huai rivers, and Tai, Chao and Dianchi lakes from 2001 to 2007. Measures were being taken to track the money, the office said, and officials responsible for fraud would be investigated and punished.
The news followed a series of Xinhua editorials last month hailing apparent progress in environmental protection, citing the five billion yuan a year investment on the “three rivers and three lakes” clean-up campaign in 2007 and last year as an example.
The audit office’s evaluation was less jubilant yesterday, saying the overall water quality in the rivers and lakes was still bad, even though “certain improvements” had been detected.
It said many so-called environmental protection policies covering the rivers and lakes had never been seriously executed, and regional governments had failed to stop polluters such as chemical and paper manufacturers from building new factories along the rivers and lakes.
Prominent environmentalist Wang Yongchen said the audit report would not be able to prevent special environmental protection funds being abused in the future.
“The key issue here is the lack of transparency and outside supervision,” she said. “Officials [in charge of the funding] basically spend the money wherever they want, and nobody outside the system has the tools or means to review their spending.”
Water pollution has been an increasing headache for the central government, with regional administrations giving a higher priority to industrial development than environmental concerns.
Wang said the central government had invested billions of yuan in river and lake protection projects in the past decade, but the money had been spent largely without outside supervision.
“The government should invite environmental protection groups and NGOs into their water protection projects,” she said. “Otherwise, there will be no outside forces to advise and monitor these projects.”
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