China's top auditor on Wednesday criticized some central government bodies for not adhering to the central authorities' regulations on frugality.
Liu Jiayi, head of the National Audit Office (NAO), briefed lawmakers on the central government's 2015 budget spending, saying that some departments did not fully rein in spending on the "three public consumptions" -- overseas travel, vehicles and entertainment.
The NAO audited a total of 42 central government agencies and their 241 affiliated bodies, with 189.2 billion yuan (28.47 billion U.S. dollars) of budget spending audited, Liu told members of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee during its bi-monthly session.
Chinese Service for Scholarly Exchange which is affiliated to the Ministry of Education, China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic products, and six other bodies were found to have illegally arranged overseas travel.
China Banking Regulatory Commission was accused of paying 1.14 million yuan for overseas travel.
The office service bureau of the Ministry of Commerce, China Population Communication Center and other two bodies were found to be using nine vehicles belonging to other departments, while 20 central department affiliated bodies overspent their public vehicles purchase and operation budgets by 6.23 million yuan.
A total of 21 agencies affiliated to three central government departments spent 16.51 million yuan more than their budgets for conference expenses, especially China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association.
Related departments are now rectifying the violations found by the NAO, said Liu, adding that nearly 85 million yuan had been confiscated and about 90 million returned.
In another development, Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, joined the group deliberation of the draft of Law on the Red Cross Society Wednesday morning, as lawmakers called for more transparency and supervision over the organization.
