China officials misused $2.8 bln in six months - Xinhua

BEIJING, July 30 (Reuters) Officials in Chinese government departments misappropriated 22.3 billion yuan in funds during the first half of the year, according to the official Xinhua news agency citing an audit office report.

The National Audit Office found that 252 people in 184 government departments at all levels were involved in the misuse of money, Xinhua said. It did not specify what type of violations were included in the data, but said some officials had embezzled funds.

The auditor found another 9.9 billion yuan had been wasted by government units, Xinhua said.

The office is to step up auditing of money earmarked for use in agriculture in the second half. It said earlier this month that 19.2 billion yuan in funds set aside for agriculture had been embezzled in 2004-05, Xinhua said.

The government has pledged to ramp up spending on rural areas in coming years as part of a campaign to revitalise the countryside, increasing official concern over whether such transfers are used properly.

The standing committee of the State Council, or cabinet, earlier this month called for tightening auditing standards by reforming the country's budget drafting system and improving systems for fiscal transfers from central to local government.

That followed a report by the audit office that showed 48 central government departments had misappropriated 5.51 billion yuan from the central budget in 2005.

REUTERS BDP KN0850