Five subsidy swindlers exposed and punished

An electric car owner charges his car in Xiangyang, Hubei province. [Phto/China Daily]

Five new energy vehicle producers that swindled subsidies from the central government were exposed in September following an investigation of 90 such manufacturers beginning in early 2016. The five companies - Suzhou Gemsea, Higer Bus, Wuzhoulong Motors, Mychery Bus and Shaolin Bus - illegally obtained a total of 1.01 billion yuan ($145.9 million) in subsidies in 2015 and claimed to have sold 3,547 vehicles that were actually either unfinished or unsold.

The Ministry of Finance said the five companies are to return the illegally obtained subsidies, and punished and disqualified them for subsidies after 2016. Gemsea, which had the most severe violations, has been removed from the country's list of automakers. The authorities have raised the threshold for automakers to receive subsidies and demanded that subsidies from local governments not exceed 50 percent of those from the central government.