China's top auditor has sent a special team to state-owned China Telecom to audit
its 2004 income and expenditure.
The audit by the National Audit Office (NAO) began on May 9 at China
Telecom's headquarters and six of its provincial branches.
A special office based in Wuhan in charge of the audit convened
a teleconference for other members of the country's
telecommunications industry on the same day in Beijing informing
them of the audit.
The news was publicly announced on the NAO's website on May
11.
The audit team has been authorized to check the telco's
financial records, investigate and collect evidence, impose
monetary penalties where necessary, and publicize the audit report,
according to Huang Daoguo, director of the team.
China Telecom has put together its own "audit" team to cooperate
with the NAO team, and all local branches have been ordered to
comply with the team's requests, said Wang Xiaochu, board chairman
and general manager of China Telecom.
China Telecom has assets worth 540 billion yuan (US$65.3
billion), 21 provincial branches and 70 percent of the country's
long-distance telecommunication network.
Central government leaders, especially Premier Wen
Jiabao, have urged for an improvement in economic audit
processes and procedures, and have vowed to take into consideration
audit results when evaluating and promoting or demoting cadres.
In the four years between 2000 and June 2004, audits resulted in
the trial and/or punishment of some 3,253 officials, according to
the NAO.
From January 1 this year, China expanded the scope of economic
audits of government officials to include heads of prefecture-level
agencies and other lower-ranking officials.
(Xinhua News Agency May 24, 2005)