SEOUL, Jan. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- South Korea's Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) on Monday started its investigation on the spending of state funding by the discredit stem cell researcher Hwang Woo-suk's research team

    The investigation came about one week after the Seoul National University (SNU) concluded Hwang's two papers published by U.S.-based journal of Science were faked.

    In a news release, the BAI said its probing priorities are determination of whether the funding was made transparently and whether the government's system to evaluate the results of state-funded research worked normally.

    The audit authorities also said it will summon key figures involving in the case and inspect eight government ministries as well as state-funded organizations to find out whether the financial funds were given to Hwang's team properly.

    The BAI probe coincides with the prosecution's investigation over the fabrication of two papers on the stem cells by Hwang's team.

    A special investigation team was already formed by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office last Wednesday to conduct investigation over the scandal.

    The BAI said it will inform the prosecution team of any criminal charges, such as fraud and embezzlement, against Hwang.

    According to the latest tally released by the BAI, Hwang's team received 41.7 billion won (42 million U.S. dollars) and 4.3 billion won (4.4 million dollars) in state and civilian funding, respectively, for its research activities from 1995 through 2005.

    Hwang, once dubbed the "pride of South Korea," was stripped of his official title of "Top Scientist" last week by the government due to the fabrication of the two papers.

    Moreover, in the wake of the conclusion made by the SNU, journal Science also formally retracted the two papers, published respectively in 2004 and 2005, last week.

    Hwang, 52, became globally famous in 2004 when he said he created a human embryo with cloning technology and derived stem cells from the embryo. In 2005, he reported that he created 11 tailored lines of stem cells from patients. Enditem