The Ministry of Personnel illegally used last year's budget surplus to buy three automobiles and 16 building apartments last year, according to the Auditing Administration Thursday.

In an overall auditing of 2003 budget implementation among China's central departments, the administration found that the Ministry of Personnel misused 930,000 yuan (about 112,500 US dollars) of surplus from government funds and infrastructure construction to buy three cars, which were not listed in its purchase budget.

Nor did the ministry present a supplementary report of the three cars before the end of last June as the regulations require, said the Auditing Administration.

The ministry was also found to have misused nearly 4.5 million yuan (544,135 US dollars) of surplus from infrastructure construction to buy 16 apartments for employees -- also not listed in its annual budget.