The state media reported Thursday that Chinese government auditors have uncovered the misuse of millions of dollars in disaster assistance as part of an embezzlement probe spanning 10 central government departments.

According to the Houston Chronicle, “a total of $3.7 million in disaster relief funds were diverted to construct government buildings or spent on administration last year, the official Xinhua News Agency said. China is trying to rebuild from a 7.9 magnitude quake that struck Sichuan province on May 12, killing nearly 70,000 people and leaving 5 million homeless.”

In recent years, Beijing has sought to tighten government budgets to rein in spending and eliminate waste while boosting assistance for victims of floods, earthquakes and other disasters. Such emergency funds are susceptible to misuse or embezzlement and not always carefully accounted for.

Nevertheless, this type of corruption was relatively minor since a total $660 million was embezzled by government agencies, which was cited in Auditor-General Lui Jiaye’s annual report to the National People’s Congress, China’s rubber stamp parliament.

As reported by the Chronicle, “Lui said 117 cases of official embezzlement were uncovered in 2007 and 14 top officials detained. A total of 88 people were arrested, prosecuted or sentenced, and another 104 people were given administrative punishments over the violations, the official China Daily newspaper said in a separate report Thursday.”

To read the entire article from the Houston Chronicle, link here:

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