Beijing, February 11:

China will impose stricter audits on companies directly under central government control, especially monopolies, to scrutinise the use of state assets, state press reported today, citing the top auditor.

“State-owned and -controlled enterprises are closely linked with the economic health of China,” said Li Jinhua, auditor general of the National Audit Office, according to the China Daily. He added his office will expand the scope of the audits and carry out more routine and special checks.

Yu Xiaoming, the deputy auditor-general, said auditors nationwide last year unearthed $36.3 billion worth of ‘problematic money’ from the inspection of 6,997 state-owned enterprises. He said audits of the Ministry of Railways, the nation’s leading oil company PetroChina and four other key state-owned enterprises would be the main tasks of his office this year.