On June 29, Liu Jiayi, the Auditor-General of the National Auditing Office of the People’s Republic of China reported to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on the 2015 national audit and government budget. Although both central and local government agencies have deepened their awareness of economic reform, some areas are still not legally regulated. The use of poverty alleviation funding is one of them.
The National Auditing Office selected a sample of 40 counties in 17 provinces which received 10.998 billion yuan of poverty alleviation funding between 2013 and 2015. The auditors found that funds for 151 million yuan had been illegally used or anonymously withdrawn. In 29 of the counties, 59 companies and 28 individuals made use of forged contracts, fake applications, and other methods; in total they misappropriated 5.573 million yuan in funds. In another 14 counties, the poverty alleviation department and local governments used 6.091 million yuan of funding to balance local budgets, subsidize municipal buildings, and for other areas that are not related to poverty alleviation. 25 companies in 17 of the counties used 21.95 million yuan to cover their operational expenses and welfare. Seven companies involved in the poverty alleviation projects illegally misappropriated 12.5 million yuan of funding under the title of “public propaganda”.
Other than that, Mr.Liu said that 870 million yuan of funding might not have been properly used or wasted because of ineffective management.
