BEIJING - China's top auditors on Wednesday announced that the government has recovered 105.6 billion yuan ($16.8 billion) in mishandled funds that were discovered during a 2011 audit.

By the end of October 2012, about 105.6 billion yuan in mismanaged or embezzled public funds had been recovered or returned, resulting in the punishment of 600 people involved, the National Audit Office (NAO) said in a report.

The recovery followed a NAO investigation into the implementation of the central budget in 2011.

About 20,500 hectares of land that was misused for construction projects were also recovered during the same period, according to the report.

Total losses of 13.7 billion yuan were avoided or retrieved, it said.

Over 450 billion yuan in misused funds have been recovered since 2008 as a result of audits, the office said.