Li Jinhua, auditor-general of National Audit Office, said recently during an interview whether its corruption or bureaucracy the best cure is publicity and transparency and the adoption of sunshine policy. He emphasized: "audit is the 'watchdog' of a country."

The "audit list" that Li Jinhua submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) disclosed the out-of-line facts of many governmental departments such as the State Forestry Administration, the State General Administration of Sports and the Commission of Science and Technology and Industry for National Defense, which shocked the whole country.

Regarding this Li Jinhua, who has been dubbed " iron-faced" auditor-general by the media, said the problems of the government's departments must be reported to the Standing Committee of the NPC and made known to the public. He also believes the fact that the government is able to publicize its own problems according to the law is a remarkable progress in China's construction of a rule-of-law government.

He pointed out audit is not only a kind of supervision it is also a tool in pushing ahead democratic and legal construction. One of the important priorities of audit work in recent years is to promote the opening of government actions - particularly actions by departments in charge of money. Regarding the public acclaims Li Jinhua said "(I) indeed don't quite deserve them". He said people pay much attention to the audit report. However, these materials are not only made public because he wants to, the government also wants to publicize them and the Premier wants to publicize them. "Not that I - Li Jinhua am so powerful".

"If the law hadn't endowed me with this power, if the Party Central Committee and the State Council hadn't supported, no matter who he was, whether it was a 'Li Jinhua', a 'Zhang Jinhua' or a 'Liu Jinhua', no one wouldn't be able to do it", said Li Jinhua.

Li Jinhua said the Party Central Committee and the State Council give a lot of support to audit work. The greatest support is the non-interference. He said over the six-plus years when he works as auditor-general no leaders, from the General Secretary to the Premier, to the Vice-Premiers and other leaders in the central government, have ever "sent notes" (a figure of speech denoting unofficial instructions from a senior leader) to him.

When talking about the follow-up work of the major cases made public by last year's audit report Li Jinhua said candidly according to his knowledge those responsible for the major problems reported last year have all been investigated. However, the turning over and return of the out-of-line funds have only been completed 70 percent or so, instead of 100 percent because some of the misappropriated funds could not be returned.

By People's Daily Online