Checking finances a good way to deter corruption and protect public

BEIJING - Auditing can play a stronger role as a stabilizing influence on society by focusing on issues that trigger social unrest, China's top auditor said on Tuesday.

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Liu Jiayi, auditor-general of the National Audit Office, said in his 2010 annual report that national auditing should focus on divisive issues such as land seizure, forced demolition and resettlement of property owners.

"Auditing should prevent social problems that can be triggered by these actions and can therefore safeguard social stability," Liu said.

He urged the national auditing system to "focus more on issues that affect people's livelihoods and to pay great attention to issues that severely affect and impair people's interests".

Many Chinese legal experts, who have voiced their concerns that "the issue of land seizure and resettlement for demolition had brought about a series of extreme confrontations", told China Daily that auditing can make a positive change if it functions effectively.

One confrontation that shocked the nation was when three members of a family surnamed Zhong doused themselves in gasoline and set themselves ablaze to protest against a forced demolition in Yihuang, East China's Jiangxi province, last September.

"These confrontations harmed society physically and emotionally. More worrisome is that they will lead to the public questioning the authorities' ability to govern and will cause increasing social instability," said Wang Xixin, a professor of administrative law at Peking University.

He noted that in many cases in which former property owners stood up for their rights, monetary compensation for demolition was intercepted and even used for speculation.

"If auditing authorities could effectively monitor governments' funds allocation processes and appropriately handle certain cases, they could then help to safeguard stability."

Sociology professor Lu Huilin from Peking University added that careful auditing could standardize governments' use of land-leasing fees, which could in turn "contain local governments' blind impulse for property development".

The auditor-general's report also pointed out that audits on local governments' debts revealed the debts remain outstanding for a long period, are very large and involve fiscal risks.

Liu said economic responsibility audits in 2010 found that 24.9 billion ($3.8 billion) yuan of public funds were misused by government employees. Eighty-two officials have been referred to prosecutors and Party discipline authorities in connection with misuse of public funds.

Cao Yin contributed to this story.