China's State Council, or cabinet, has issued a circular to tighten management on donated quake relief material and funds, asking the audit offices, supervision departments and media to watch over malpractice.

It asked the audit offices and fiscal departments to track how the government departments and non-governmental organizations handled the donation and publicize the results regularly.

The supervision departments would inspect the government's management on donations and severely punish the offenders while the media are encouraged to keep a close eye on any malpractice and report their findings, the circular said.

The police and judicial departments would crack down upon fraudulent collections, it added.

China has received donations worth of about 41.5 billion yuan (US$5.98 billion) from domestic and overseas donors.

How to efficiently and fairly manage such a huge sum of money and make sure it really benefits victims has been commonly talked about by the media and ordinary Chinese citizens.

China's Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate vowed to crack down upon corruption in quake relief earlier this month.

He Guoqiang, China's top anti-graft official of the Communist Party of China, also warned of "quick, strict and harsh penalties" on those found withholding or embezzling quake relief funds and supplies.

The cabinet circular listed four principles for donation management.

Donation should be made voluntarily rather than compulsorily; organizations should respect donors' will in using the donations; donations should go to the exact needs of quake relief and rehabilitation, especially to hard-hit areas; and governments and organizations should follow a legal and standardized way to distribute donations and publicize the results timely.

(Xinhua News Agency June 2, 2008)