China’s state auditor said Monday that more than $1 billion was misappropriated in the construction and operation of a major electricity grid system in less than four months last year.
The National Audit Office said its investigation into contracts for a west-to-east transmission line uncovered theft and contract irregularities amounting to $1.1 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The audit findings raised questions about the financial controls over China’s engineering programs.
Of the contracts examined in the audit, 16 percent of the project budget was found to be impacted by irregularities.
Past probes into China’s electrical engineering programs uncovered corruption in a high-speed railway project, which led to last year’s conviction of China’s former railways minister, “Great Leap Liu” Zhijun. He was given a suspended death sentence for corruption and abuse of office.
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Julie DiMauro is the executive editor of FCPA Blog and can be reached here.
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