1st Ld-Writethru: Chinese senior lawmakers review reports

BEIJING, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) held a plenary session Saturday to hear reports by several central authorities.

The legislators reviewed the report on rectification of problems found during the audit of the implementation of the 2016 central budget and other fiscal matters, which was delivered by Hu Zejun, head of the National Audit Office.

According to the report, 8,123 people involved in fiscal violations were punished, among them 970 for inappropriate use of poverty relief funds and 1,363 for irregularities in the use of affordable housing funds.

The session was attended by Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee.

Legislators also reviewed reports on the allocation and use of fiscal funds for education, cultural heritage protection, and the trial use of plea bargaining in criminal cases in certain areas.

On Saturday afternoon, lawmakers held panel discussions on the draft supervision law, which is under its second reading. Zhang attended one of the panel discussions.

Lawmakers agreed that the draft has been well written, further clarifying principles, power and duties of supervisory agencies, strictly regulating compulsory measures that supervisory agencies are allowed to take, and establishing procedures between supervisory and prosecuting agencies.

They suggested that, after a few revisions, the draft should be submitted to the upcoming annual session of the NPC. Enditem