Auditors uncover mass embezzlement in China dam: press

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2007

BEIJING (AFP) — Chinese auditors believe 37 million dollars has been embezzled from funds earmarked for resettling residents displaced by China's landmark Three Gorges Dam project, state press has reported.

The 289 million yuan stemmed from allocations in 2004 and 2005 and were to have been used mainly for housing, enterprise construction and other government funding, including job training, the Beijing News said.

Reports have increasingly emerged over the years of government funds being embezzled by corrupt local officials and never reaching the residents who had to move to make way for the dam.

Up to 1.4 million people were displaced by the 22.5-billion-dollar dam, the world's largest hydroelectric project, and which is designed to generate 84.7 billion...