China starts new audit of huge stimulus package

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BEIJING, Sept 24 - China has started a new round of investigations into how the government's 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) in stimulus money is being spent, the country's top auditor said in remarks published on Thursday.

Liu Jiayi, the head of China's National Audit Office, was quoted by the official People's Daily as saying that the nationwide check started early this month and would end in October. The findings would be made public.

In a statement in April, the audit office said it had not uncovered any major misuse of the stimulus funds.

Liu said the new audit would cover more projects, including the high-speed railway between Beijing and Shanghai.

The central government is directly financing 1.18 trillion yuan of the package, which was announced on Nov. 8. The rest of the money is expected to come from local authorities and state-owned companies and banks.