BEIJING, Dec. 25 -- Hundreds of billions of yuan were recovered through audits conducted by China's top auditing body in the first 11 months of this year, the country's top auditor said on Thursday.

Liu Jiayi, head of the National Audit Office (NAO), said the audits conducted on nearly 100,000 government departments and state-owned enterprises helped recover more than 240 billion yuan (39.22 billion U.S. dollars), taking into account net increases in revenues and recouped losses.

During the period, the office evaluated the performances of more than 20,000 officials, and more than 200 officials were handed over for judicial and disciplinary inspection for irregularities involving funds totaling over 30 billion yuan, Liu said.

He said that in 2015 the NAO will strengthen audits on the implementation of major policies and fund management in major projects.

The office will also strengthen environmental protection during the auditing work, Liu said.