China has accused over 20 more car manufacturers of violating the rules of the "new energy vehicle" subsidy program, which is aimed at increasing the sales of plug-in electric vehicles, according to the state-backed Securities Daily newspaper.

Automakers in the said list include Japan's Nissan, South Korea's Hyundai, Geely, Anhui Jianghuai Automobile (JAC Motor), and a unit of BYD, Yahoo! News reported.

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The spokespersons for Nissan and Geely have refused to comment on the issue.

"As we understand the government investigation is proceeding, we cannot comment on this issue at this stage," a representative of Hyundai said.

"Right now we do not have any idea where the suspected list is coming from," a spokeswoman for BYD said, adding the automaker has not received an official notification yet.

On the other hand, JAC Motor, which recently announced its joint venture with Volkswagen, also refused to give an immediate comment.

China's Finance Ministry revealed that 90 companies have been placed under investigation but refused to name them, the Economic Times reported.

Last week, China's Ministry of Finance accused five car makers of allegedly cheating its program to subsidize electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. The five automakers reportedly collected a total of over 1 billion yuan ($120 million) in subsidies.

As punishment, the ministry revoked the license of Suzhou Gemsea Coach Manufacturing. The four other firms including Chery Wanda Guizhou Bus, King Long United Auto Industry, Shenzhen Wuzhoulong Motors, and Henan Shaolin Bus were ordered to return the subsidies and pay fines equal to 50 percent of the improper payments.

"'Subsidy fraud' will do a lot of damage to development of the new energy vehicle industry," Xu Yanhua, deputy general secretary of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said.

Tagssubsidy program, subsidy scandal, energy vehicles, Hyundai, nissan, Geely, car makers