BEIJING - China's top auditing body announced on Monday that 95 people were arrested, prosecuted or sentenced last year for embezzling public funds in 2009.

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The moves followed a National Audit Office (NAO) investigation into the way the central budget was implemented, along with other sources of revenue and spending in 2009.

A total of 104 cases had been referred to disciplinary or judicial departments and about 1,103 people were dealt with by the Communist Party of China or governmental disciplinary bodies by the end of last year, according to a report on the NAO website.

About 122.3 billion yuan ($18.61 billion) had been recovered or returned by the end of last year, the report said.

The office also published another report on its website, detailing 28 cases of embezzlement that had been resolved by the end of last year.

They included the case of Tang Ruoxin, former general manager of the China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation, who misused 300 million yuan from 2002 to 2003, of which 200 million yuan was never recovered.

Tang was sentenced to 14 years in prison for bribery and abuse of authority in February 2010.

China Daily - Xinhua