State audit urged to help prevent corruption

Hanoi (VNA) – National Assembly (NA) Vice Chairman Phung Quoc Hien has urged the State Audit of Vietnam (SAV) to closely monitor national assets, in an effort to prevent corruption and build an open and transparent financial system.

To that end, the agency should operate independently and observe laws as well as audit procedures, focusing on the efficiency and quality of the work, the legislator told the SAV at a working session in Hanoi on August 23.

He asked the agency to revamp its apparatus, set up a staff of virtuous and competent auditors, and audit official development assistance (ODA) and build-operate-transfer (BOT) projects as they are of public concerns.

Audit results must be publicised via mass media, he stressed.

Applauding the SAV’s achievements recorded over the past years the NA Vice Chairman commended the report on the audit of the 2014 State budget presented at the first session of the 14 th NA for the first time.

However, he said, the SAV has failed to cover all public property, especially State assets, and huge investments.
At the working session, State Auditor General Ho Duc Phoc reported that as of August 15, 2016, the agency dispatched 161 out of the 223 planned audit delegations, approved 79 draft audit reports and issued 38 audit reports.

The agency has contributed over 1.1 trillion VND (49.3 million VND) to the State coffer while saving more than 7.2 trillion VND (324 million VND) for the national budget, he said.

Phoc noted that the SAV aims to raise the audit quality and efficiency, working as the State’s effective tool in inspecting and supervising the management and use of financial resources and public assets.

The agency is gearing towards modernity in a bid to satisfy requirements of national industrialisation and modernisation, in accordance with international practice and standards, he added.-VNA