Ending misuse of funds

The National Audit Office's findings that several central government departments and agencies have misused public funds reveal the necessity to mete out harsher punishment to wrongdoers.

Policymakers must also figure out how to effectively strengthen supervision to prevent more such cases from happening in the future.

The auditing authorities reported that some central ministries and agencies have abused huge amounts of taxpayers' money, with the National Natural Science Foundation accused of improperly using public funds of up to 2 billion yuan ($323.6 million). In a separate audit, the office also found that some companies illegally obtained State energy-saving subsidies totalling 1.62 billion yuan in 2011 and 2012.