Report Finds Dirty Money, Water in China; Environmental Plans on Obama's Agenda

Byline: Michael Standaert, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

BEIJING -- More than a half-billion dollars meant for tackling water pollution in Chinese rivers and lakes has been embezzled or misused, seriously undercutting pollution prevention efforts and raising questions about how pervasive corruption is in China's environmental programs, a new report shows.

The report, by China's National Auditing Office (NAO), revealed that from 2001 to 2007, about $59 million in funding for water pollution control and prevention efforts involving three major rivers and three major lake areas was embezzled by officials and departments in those regions. In addition, $661 million was stolen, misdirected or never used.

This is very serious, said Zhu Lijia, director at the public administration office at the China National School of Administration.

The embezzlement, the misuse of money dedicated to controlling water pollution damages public confidence in the government's capacity to deal with these issues.

The report was released just before President Obama's trip to Asia that will …

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Publication information: Article title: Report Finds Dirty Money, Water in China; Environmental Plans on Obama's Agenda. Contributors: Not available. Newspaper title: The Washington Times (Washington, DC). Publication date: November 12, 2009. Page number: A01. © 2009 The Washington Times LLC. COPYRIGHT 2009 Gale Group.

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