Oral health body 'linked to scandals'

An audit report released by the Ministry of Health yesterday records several cases of financial misconduct involving the National Committee for Oral Health (NCOH).

The report revealed that the NCOH, a small but "clever" advisory body that was dismantled in April after its operations came under public scrutiny, made unauthorized endorsements worth about 2.09 million yuan ($273,000) between 1997 and 2006.

The report also found, without naming any names, that the committee's "primary responsible party" had illegally claimed about 74,200 yuan as a housing subsidy and 46,000 yuan as a duty allowance during one two-year period.