China recovers 2.3b yuan from firms cheating green car subsidies

[BEIJING] China has recovered 2.3 billion yuan (S$470.2 million) from companies that cheated a subsidy programme to promote green energy cars, the country's Finance Minister Xiao Jie told a briefing on Tuesday.

China's central government has spent billions in subsidies to aggressively promote battery electric and plug-in hybrid cars, aiming to cut urban air pollution and encourage domestic car makers to leapfrog global competitors in automotive technology.

Last year, the finance ministry concluded its investigation into the cheating scandal, with dozens of companies eventually being named for wrongfully obtaining subsidies.

Automakers, predominantly coach bus makers, were found to have used various methods to cheat the programme, including fabricating production and sales entirely, selling cars to their own leasing companies and seeking subsidies for vehicles that did not meet minimum technical requirements.

REUTERS