Chinese auditors have put the China National Petroleum
Corporation (CNPC) and the Ministry of Railways under scrutiny as
part of a nationwide campaign targeting monopoly industries.
Auditors who moved into the CNPC in mid-March are examining the
authenticity of accounts and the duties of top management in making
significant decisions.
They will also be on the lookout for misconduct while inspecting
the company's assets management, Yu Xiaoming, deputy
auditor-general of the National Audit Office, told Xinhua News
Agency yesterday.
CNPC, China's largest oil and gas producer, was the first
centrally administered enterprise to come under auditing scrutiny
this year. The other three to be audited are China Huadian
Corporation, China Resources, and the Harbin Power Equipment.
The Ministry of Railways, which dominates the country's railway
transportation, has also been carefully assessed this month.
In the largest campaign since 1998, auditors would examine the
ministry's budget implementation and the use of railway
construction funds.
Additionally, the list for inspection includes 25 railway
construction projects, five loans from the World Bank and the Asian
Development Bank, and the financial reports of both the ministry
and three affiliated companies and 17 railway bureaus.
The audits, say commentators, indicate the Chinese authorities
are addressing the public concern about corruption in monopoly
industries.
China's auditors found problems with the financial records of
6,997 state-owned enterprises last year, involving 28.14 billion
yuan (US$3.6 billion).
Fifteen of these were centrally administered, and their records
revealed that 13.2 billion yuan (US$1.7 billion) had been misused
and 12 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion) was tied up in non-performing
assets.
A total of 363 cases, involving 5.3 billion yuan (US$685.2
million), were referred for prosecution or to disciplinary
inspection departments.
(Xinhua News Agency March 27, 2007)