China's auditor general delivers 2011 audit report

China's top auditor on Wednesday delivered the 2011 audit report at the ongoing session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), the nation's top legislature.

Liu Jiayi, auditor general of the National Audit Office (NAO), said that the agency audited 112 cases of major law violations and economic crimes last year. The cases involved more than 300 people, including some administrative department chiefs.

Twenty-three of the 62 county-level public hospitals sampled were also found to have charged higher medicine prices than regulated, which led to extra revenue totalling 673.2 million yuan (106.85 million U.S. dollars), Liu said.

Meanwhile, Liu said the Ministry of Railways also illegally shortened the application period for companies bidding on infrastructure construction projects on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway.

The period was shortened to 13 hours from at least five days, reducing opportunities for companies to participate in the bidding process, Liu said.

The bimonthly session of the NPC Standing Committee runs from Tuesday to Saturday.