IRREGULARITIES in the use of budget and other spending involving billions of yuan by 57 central government departments in 2012 were discovered by the National Audit Office, China's top auditor.

The former Ministry of Railways was found to have used 1.57 billion yuan (US$255 million) in vaguely-described new projects which were not assessed, the audit office said yesterday.

The ministry was split into two entities this year, with the regulatory and administrative functions transferred to the Ministry of Transport and commercial operations to a new state-owned company.

The National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, misused 4.55 million yuan in business reception, overseas visit, and subsidies to employees in violation of fiscal regulations.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs spent an excessive 14 million yuan in overseas trips, and the Lanzhou branch of the People's Bank of China, the central bank, spent 201 million yuan in public and project funding to make unauthorized payments to employees.

The audit office also took the Xinhua news agency to task for leaving out nearly 100 million yuan of dividend earnings from its revenue report.

But the audit office was not entirely blameless as it found itself misusing over 20 million yuan last year, including not listing in its budget 3.61 million yuan that it spent on computer maintenance and equipment updating.