国内英语新闻:Chinese Premier asks auditors to keep a close eye on public funds

BEIJING, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Monday asked auditors to keep a close eye on public investment projects to help avoid embezzlement and waste of public funds.

    Jerry-built projects and vanity projects should be strictly forbidden with the help of closer follow-up scrutiny of public funds, said the premier in a meeting with participants at a national auditing conference.

    The National Audit Office (NAO) statistics showed that altogether 234.7 billion yuan (34.51 billion U.S. dollars) of public funds have been misappropriated and 16.3 billion yuan wasted during the first 11 months this year.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (C, front), also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, shakes hands with one of participants of the National Audit Work Conference and the Commendatory Convention for Outstanding Audit Units and Auditors, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Dec. 28, 2009

    Wen urged auditors to strengthen budget enforcement auditing in order to guarantee an open and transparent fiscal budget for governments at all levels.

    The premier said that auditing should shoulder the responsibility of safeguarding the country's economic security by detecting possible risks in economic operations. As for now, special attention should be paid to fiscal and financial risks, he said.

    He also called for giving full play to the role of auditing in the fight against corruption and severely cracking down on corruption.

    China carried out audit among more than 20,000 government officials including provincial level cadres and bosses of large state-owned enterprises this year. Cases involving 67 senior officials and 164 others were handed over to judicial authorities, said the NAO.