Chinese auditors have put the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and the Ministry of Railways under scrutiny as part of a nationwide campaign targeting monopoly industries.

Auditors who moved into the CNPC in mid-March are examining the authenticity of accounts and the duties of top management in making significant decisions.

They will also be on the lookout for misconduct while inspecting the company's assets management, Yu Xiaoming, deputy auditor-general of the National Audit Office, told Xinhua News Agency yesterday.

CNPC, China's largest oil and gas producer, was the first centrally administered enterprise to come under auditing scrutiny this year. The other three to be audited are China Huadian Corporation, China Resources, and the Harbin Power Equipment.

The Ministry of Railways, which dominates the country's railway transportation, has also been carefully assessed this month.

In the largest campaign since 1998, auditors would examine the ministry's budget implementation and the use of railway construction funds.

Additionally, the list for inspection includes 25 railway construction projects, five loans from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, and the financial reports of both the ministry and three affiliated companies and 17 railway bureaus.

The audits, say commentators, indicate the Chinese authorities are addressing the public concern about corruption in monopoly industries.

China's auditors found problems with the financial records of 6,997 state-owned enterprises last year, involving 28.14 billion yuan (US$3.6 billion).

Fifteen of these were centrally administered, and their records revealed that 13.2 billion yuan (US$1.7 billion) had been misused and 12 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion) was tied up in non-performing assets.

A total of 363 cases, involving 5.3 billion yuan (US$685.2 million), were referred for prosecution or to disciplinary inspection departments.

(Xinhua News Agency March 27, 2007)