China on Thursday published the results of its first ever audit of lottery funds, revealing that 16.9 billion yuan ($2.7 billion) has been embezzled. The National Audit Office announced that 16.9 billion yuan was embezzled by various organizations and individuals between 2012 and 2014, accounting for 25.7 percent of the 65.8 billion yuan in lottery funds raised in 18 provincial-level regions over the period.
A total of 854 public welfare programs supported by lottery funds were audited. The illegal sale of lottery tickets via the Internet was pervasive in the 18 regions.
More than 4.2 billion yuan was embezzled through fake projects, illegal foreign investments or business operations, and 9 billion yuan was used for the illegitimate purchase of equipment and services, or was spent on shady off-the-book purposes.
More than 290 organizations were found to have misused 3.6 billion yuan through the construction of office buildings, distributing allowances to employees, buying luxury government vehicles and organizing unnecessary overseas trips.
Several officials from lottery companies' supervision departments were found to have abused their power and embezzled lottery funds or to have illegally run betting shops. The National Audit Office has submitted to the related authorities 90 cases in which officials are suspected of violating laws and regulations.
More than 20.4 billion yuan was left unused by financial departments or organizations for more than one year and 34 programs funded by lotteries were unable to operate for various reasons, which led to 268 million yuan being unused in 2014.
The authorities recovered 14.51 billion yuan of the misused money by May 31 and will publish updates when unresolved issues have been corrected.
An increase in the sale of lottery tickets in recent years has contributed to the expansion of social welfare programs.
