中国审计署：京沪高铁建设资金被挪用Corruption scandal is blow to China’s high-speed railway

Investigators have found evidence that nearly $30m of funds budgeted for China’s Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway line was misappropriated last year, in another blow to the country’s scandal-plagued high-speed rail sector.

中国调查人员已发现证据证实，去年京沪高铁的预算资金中有近3000万美元被挪用，这是对丑闻缠身的中国高速铁路部门的又一个打击。

China’s state audit office said on Wednesday it had identified numerous cases of embezzlement and other irregularities from just a three-month period of construction on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed line last year and has passed the cases on to judicial authorities for formal investigation.

中国审计署周三表示，去年对京沪高铁建设项目进行了为期三个月的跟踪审计后，发现存在无数挪用公款及其它违规行为。审计署已将相关问题移送司法机关，由其立案彻查。

China’s railway minister and the rail ministry’s deputy chief engineer were both removed from their positions last month for “severe disciplinary violations” – an allegation that usually results in criminal charges for corruption.

中国铁道部长和铁道部副总工程师上月双双被停职，理由都是“涉嫌严重违纪”，这一指控通常意味着他们稍后将因涉嫌腐败而被提起公诉。

The former minister, Liu Zhijun, is the most senior government official to be implicated in corruption in the past five years and his downfall has raised serious doubts about the future of the hugely ambitious high-speed rail expansion plans he championed.

原铁道部长刘志军是中国过去五年里因腐败而落马的级别最高的官员，他的落马令人对他曾经推动的雄心勃勃的高铁扩建计划的未来产生严重疑问。

Neither Mr Liu nor Zhang Shuguang, the former deputy chief engineer at the rail ministry, have been named in connection with the state auditor’s investigation into the 1,318km, $33bn Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail project, which is scheduled to open to the public next year.

在中国审计署对全长1318公里、总投资330亿美元的京沪高铁项目跟踪审计的报告中，没有提到刘志军或铁道部原副总工程师张曙光的名字。京沪高铁定于明年开通，向公众提供服务。

The line is the longest and most expensive high-speed rail project in the country but it has been dogged by a number of scandals and controversies and has already been singled out in previous state audits for financial “irregularities”.

京沪高铁是中国最长、投资额最高的高铁项目，但一直受到多起丑闻和争议的困扰，在以往的政府审计中已被点名，称其存在财务“违规”。

In its latest report the auditor also cited numerous cases of flawed procurement procedures, overcharging, unexplained costs and fake receipts related to the project.

中国审计署在最新的报告中，还提到该项目存在大量采购招标审核工作不严、收费过高、成本解释不清以及虚假发票问题。

When completed, the new railway should reduce travel time between the two cities from about 10 hours now to four hours.

京沪高铁完工后，将使北京与上海之间的列车行程从现在的10小时缩短到4小时。

China’s top leaders had already ordered a rethink of the country’s ambitious high-speed rail plans before the removal of the rail minister last month but following his dismissal the review has intensified, according to industry analysts and Chinese media reports.

据行业分析师和中国媒体称，在上月解除铁道部长职务之前，中国最高领导层就已下令重审该国雄心勃勃的高铁建设规划，在刘志军被停职后，重审高铁规划的工作加大了力度。

China has roughly 17,000km of high-speed railway built or under construction, by far the longest network in the world, and officials have said projects that have already started will not be affected by the review.

中国建成或在建的高铁总长约1.7万公里，构成全球遥遥领先的最长高铁网络。官员们表示，已经开工的项目将不受上述重审的影响。

The government has said it plans to spend nearly $130bn this year on railway construction and this plan is unlikely to change, according to officials at China Railway Construction, builder of more than half the country’s railroads.

中国政府已表示，计划今年向铁路建设投入近1300亿美元。据中国逾半铁路的建设者——中国铁建股份有限公司(China Railway Construction)的高管们称，这个计划不太可能改变。

But future expansion and proposed new lines will be closely scrutinised and possibly cancelled.

但未来的扩建和新建项目将受到严密审视，可能被砍掉。

An intense safety review of all existing projects is under way because of fears that corruption and the speed with which the network has been built will result in poor quality construction of tracks that are meant to carry trains travelling up to 380km/h.

中国有关部门正对所有现有项目进行严密的安全审查，原因是人们担心，腐败和高铁线路的建设速度将导致轨道铺设质量低劣，而这些轨道是需要承载时速高达380公里的列车的。