$943m embezzled from China's affordable housing project

BEIJING -- China's top auditor said Thursday that nearly 5.8 billion yuan ($943 million) in funds meant for low-incoming housing projects was embezzled last year.

The goal of the project construction was reached as governments have allocated about 412.9 billion yuan and collected 466.8 billion yuan through loans and issuances of enterprise bonds, said Liu Jiayi, auditor general of the National Audit Office (NAO), at the ongoing session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature.

However, he said project fund management and distribution in some areas failed to meet standards.

About 18,300 housing units were sold by construction companies, which violates regulations, he said.

Nearly 120,000 households taking advantage of the project were found to be unqualified to do so, either because their income exceeded the standard or because they took advantage of loopholes to secure multiple low-incoming housing units, according to Liu.

After the audit, 1.27 billion yuan was recovered and 18,900 households ineligible for low-income units were removed from the list, he added.

China has vowed to build 36 million affordable housing units during the 2011-2015 period to meet the demand from low-income families.

The program, first approved in 1999, is designed to provide less costly housing to wage-earning workers and low-rent homes to poverty-stricken residents edged out by the country's runaway real estate prices in recent years.