Scores of PLA officers punished(2)

Nearly 19 billion yuan was cut from construction projects and administrative spending, while a considerable proportion of the money saved was invested on improving training operations, the report said.

Auditors also helped the military to save about 6.7 billion yuan that would have been charged unreasonably by local governments, according to PLA Daily.

The newspaper quoted an unidentified military prosecutor as saying that more than 90 percent of criminal cases within the PLA are related to infrastructure construction, property development, equipment purchasing as well as personnel and fund management.

In early November, the Central Military Commission placed the PLA Auditing Office under its direct management. The office had been administered by the PLA General Logistics Department.

Last year, 15 high-ranking officers including Xu Caihou, former vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, and Gu Junshan, former deputy head of the PLA General Logistics Department, were placed under investigation on suspicion of corruption.

Gong Fangbin, a senior colonel and political education researcher at PLA National Defense University, said a powerful auditing system will help the PLA with its anti-graft efforts.

Hou Xiaohe, also a senior colonel and a strategy expert at the university, said corruption in the PLA is particularly harmful because it affects morale and combat capability.

Xu Guangyu, a retired major general who is a senior adviser to the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, said: "If generals fill their pockets with embezzled money while ordinary soldiers sleep in ill-constructed camps, who will fight for the country when needed?"