China's military said yesterday it would tighten controls over the construction and sale of buildings to ensure proper accounting and transparency for all financial transactions as part of a wider government anti-corruption campaign.

China launched a crackdown on graft in the military in the late 1990s, banning the People's Liberation Army from engaging in business. Corruption has worsened in recent years, however, due to a lack of transparency and checks and balances.

The latest rules, printed on the front page of the official PLA Daily, mandate that money from the sale of military buildings must be handed over to the military fully and in a timely manner.

New building work can only be carried out according to pre-approved plans and must not stray from them in scope or size, state the rules, which go into effect on Saturday.

"The approval process must be open and transparent and supervised effectively," the newspaper said. "Make decisions in accordance with the law and effectively prevent corruption."

The newspaper reported this month that illegal occupants of 27,000 military apartments had been cleared out over a seven-month period last year.

President Xi Jinping has made fighting graft a top priority of his administration and targeted official waste and extravagance, seeking to assuage public anger over corruption.

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