[NB The US$600 million figure given by AFP in the following article is incorrect. According to the Hong Kong-based Guangzhou Daily, China’s Auditor-General, Li Jinhua, reported that officials have embezzled 500 million yuan (US$ 60.98 million) or 12 percent of the total 4 billion yuan (US$ 487.8 million) allocated by the central government for Three Gorges resettlement.] Corrupt officials have embezzled five billion yuan (600 million dollars) set aside to relocate people out of the path of China’s Three Gorges Dam "Five billion yuan for resettlement of residents in the Three Gorges Dam area was embezzled. Fourteen people were involved," the People’s Daily said, giving no further details. The huge dam — revealed by auditor general Li Jinhua as part of the 125 billion yuan of state funds embezzled last year — represents around 12 percent of the budget of 40 billion yuan set aside to relocate 1.2 million people at the dam site. It is the first time that details of corruption ensnaring the huge project have been revealed. The report also showed that the Ministry of Water Resources, which is in charge of the dam project, "illegally raised" three billion yuan which was later "misused". The 200 billion yuan (27 billion dollar) dam project — destined to become the world’s largest hydroelectric dam when it is completed in 2009 — has been beset by a series of financial, environmental and social problems. Many people living in the area are reluctant to leave the banks of the Yangtze River to make way for the 632 square kilometer (252 square mile) reservoir, while experts have questioned the financial logic of the project and warned of a damaging impact on the environment.