Government orders audit of vehicle use

State-owned institutions, including hospitals and universities, have been ordered to audit their use of official vehicles, in yet another move aimed at curbing the misuse of public resources.

The directive follows a nationwide investigation of government and Party authorities. Results of the probe, released in June, found that 199,600 vehicles were purchased or used improperly.

The order, issued online on Monday by the Ministry of Finance, says that institutional organizations registered by the end of 2011 and subject to official financing and accounting regulations must submit a report on vehicle use by Oct 31.

The goal is to "learn the number, structure, distribution and management of official cars", and "to safeguard the making of policies that regulate and enhance the management of official cars".

The focus is on discovering the number, prices, engine displacements, status and uses of the cars, it said.

For comparison organizations must report the number of staff, the brand of the car and how and when they acquired it.

Organizations must also sum up how many sedans, coaches, off-road vehicles and trucks they maintain, and how many of those are for business usage. And they must collect the information themselves.

Many netizens have said that the self-examination is unlikely to reveal problems.

Chen Guannan, a contact person for the operation at the ministry, said she is aware of the concerns voiced online but refused to disclose how the ministry will check the accuracy of the data or how it will publicize the information.

However, insiders like Ye Qing, a deputy to the National People's Congress and an advocate of reforming the official car system, said they believe the self-audit will be followed by other actions, including possible punishments for those found to have abused the system.

In the previous investigation, 170 were disciplined.

Ye said authorities will also verify the information that institutional organizations submit, make corrections and then revise regulations and policies.

"The public will find the scrutiny of car misuse will increase in the future. It won't decrease at all," Ye said, adding that the ministry asked for more detailed information from institutional organizations than it did last time from government authorities.

There are more than 30 million people working in 1.26 million institutional organizations in China, and 6.89 million civil servants work in government authorities, according to official figures.

Ye said the misuse of official cars is more serious among institutional organizations than in government bodies because of the difference in scale, and because institutional organizations apply less-vigorous management oversight and have an easier time finding excuses to misuse the vehicles.

Jiang Kelan, a doctor in Guizhou province, said a hospital in her county spent funds set aside for rebuilding an office building to buy sedans for hospital managers' use in recent years.

Ye expects the information collected will help the government decide how to pursue reforms in the future.