Dozens of central government ministries and agencies misused US$3.6 billion of State funds last year, according to a National Audit Office (NAO) report released yesterday.

The office said it audited 49 ministerial-level bodies from last December to March on budgets, revenues and expenditures.

Illegal use accounted for 4 percent of the money and waste for 5 percent of the 27 billion yuan (US$3.6 billion) that was wrongly used or improperly accounted for, according to a summary posted on the NAO website that cited chief auditor Li Jinhua's report to a work meeting on Monday.

Many of the ministries and agencies had engaged in malpractices before, according to the meeting. "Resolute measures must be taken to prevent them from committing the malpractice again," Li said.

The most common problems were misappropriation of funds and failure to report proceeds or extra expenditures, the report said.

It outlines numerous ways that State agencies allegedly used to raise extra cash.

"As of the end of 2006, 132 million yuan (US$17.6 million) of Finance Ministry funds had not been clearly allocated," the report said, adding that the ministry had failed to account for another 157 million yuan (US$21 million) outstanding from already completed projects.

The auditors took the National Development and Reform Commission - the top economic planner - and other government departments to task for charging companies for "endorsements" or sponsorships.

Such charges by the NDRC alone amounted to 13.4 million yuan (US$1.78 million) in 2006, the report said.

The agency also accused the Foreign Ministry of charging 62 million yuan (US$8.2 million) in excess fees for visas, noting that the average amount charged was twice the cost.

The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission was singled out for alleged misuse of 51.9 million yuan (US$6.9 million) in project funds, while the Ministry of Public Security misused 6.29 million yuan (US$837,000) in public funds, the report said.

Despite the problems, Li said during an online interview in July that the situation is changing for the better since he took office 10 years ago because a large portion of the problematic money was caused by "managerial irregularities".

(China Daily, September 20, 2007)