On the morning of March 16, 2023, at the Headquarters of the State Audit Office of Viet Nam (SAV) - 116 Nguyen Chanh, Ha Noi, under the chairmanship of State Auditor General, Mr. Ngo Van Tuan, SAV held an online meeting to give opinions on the draft procedures for auditing cases with signs of corruption.
State Auditor General Mr. Ngo Van Tuan giving direction at the meeting
Attending the meeting were Deputy State Auditors Generals Mr. Nguyen Tuan Anh, Mr. Doan Anh Tho, Mr. Dang The Vinh and Mrs. Ha Thi My Dzung and the heads of SAV subordinate units.
Reporting at the meeting on the draft of the audit process for cases with signs of corruption (Audit Process), Director General of the Department of Legal Affairs Hoang Phu Tho said that the audit process was promulgated to ensure consistency in the organization, performance, management of audit activities and control SAV’s audit quality; and also to create a legal framework to organize the work in an audit and the audit team's activities; to serve as a foundation for developing audit guidelines for each audit field, etc.
Subjects of application would be SAV’s units assigned to organize the audit, SAV’s audit teams, SAV’s units assigned with the task of inspection, supervision, quality assurance of the audit and related individuals and units.
The draft of the audit process would include 24 articles stipulating the audit process applied from the audit preparation step; audits implementation; preparation and submission of the audit report; monitoring and inspection of the implementation of audit conclusions and recommendations.
In the course of discussing and making suggestions to improve the draft of the audit process, opinions focusing on the exchange and discussion on the legal basis for the audit of cases with signs of corruption; difficulties and obstacles when performing audits with signs of corruption were given. The popular opinions were that the authority of SAV does not allow verification and clarification of signs of crime. The audit of cases with signs of corruption is often highly complex and involves various subjects, particularly the difficulty in collecting evidence at units and individuals related to the audited units.
Delivering his direction at the meeting, State Auditor General Mr. Ngo Van Tuan emphasized that, with the function of auditing the management and use of finance and public assets, SAV is considered as an effective tool of the Party and the State in the anti-corruption process and this right is clearly reflected in a lot of relevant documents of the Party and laws. Therefore, within the scope of its assigned functions and tasks, SAV must demonstrate its role in anti-corruption process through audit activities in a clearer manner.
Agreeing with the opinions given at the meeting, the State Auditor General stated that auditing a case with signs of corruption would be a difficult task with high requirements, yet many regulations on SAV’s right to access an audit to clarify signs of corruption currently remain limited. The State Auditor General requested that in the immediate future, SAV’s units continue their performance in the spirit of carrying out works “based on the resources and current regulations of SAV, to the best of their ability and responsibility”.
Therefore, in order to facilitate the audit of cases with signs of corruption, the State Auditor General urged that SAV’s units complete the audit process, with emphasis on consolidating audit records and evidence using the methods of collecting audit evidence. The development of a process to audit cases with signs of corruption must require careful study and consideration to ensure the feasibility of regulations after promulgation and implementation.
The State Auditor General noted that, on the basis of the comments made at the meeting, the Department of Legal Affairs should continue to review, summarize comments and complete the process of auditing cases with signs of corruption, and submit it to the State Auditor General for further consideration./.