The revised Law on the State Audit promotes more effective supervision of public finance and assets, and fight against corruption

After 3 years of implementing the 2015 State Audit Law, the SAV has proposed financial settlement of more than VND 240,000 billion; propose amendments, supplements and cancellation of hundreds of legal documents which are no longer suitable in order to close the loopholes in mechanism, organize the implementation of the State's regulations to avoid loss, waste and contribute importantly to strengthen the national finance, tighten financial discipline, especially contribute positively to the process of institutional improvement in the country's development process. However, at the request of the renovation and improving the effectiveness of public finance, public assets surveillance and corruption prevention, the SAV has built and submitted to the National Assembly for approval of Law No. 55/2019 / QH14 dated November 26, 2019 amending and supplementing a number of articles of the 2015 SAV to improve the legal system of SAV, enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of SAV.

Snapshot  of the Press Conference announcing the President's Order announcing 11 Laws, including the amended State Audit Law - Photo: Thanh Tung
 

By the end of November 2019, the SAV’s submission of a new Law that amends many articles under the Law on the State Audit (issued in 2015) was officially approved by the National Assembly of S.R. of Vietnam. This amendment is aimed to address many shortcomings of the 2015 Law and thus to enhance effectiveness, efficiency and capacity of the SAV by:


1. Defining the term “agencies, organizations and individuals involved in state audit activities”; 


2. Enhancing the mandate of the SAV to check the information and documents directly related to purpose and scope of auditees at agencies, organizations and individuals involved in state audit activities, and the management and use of public finance and assets at these agencies, organizations and individuals; 


3. Allowing the SAV to access to the national databse and electric data of auditees, and agencies, organizations and individuals involved in state audit activities in order to explore and collect necessary information and documents directly related to purpose and scope of audit. In this regard, the SAV is responsible for confidentiality and security of information adhering to the State Law on confidentiality and information security;


4. Adding principles of sanctioning administrative violations in the state audit field. The specific fine and order of sanction procedures shall be prescribed by the Law on handling of administrative violations;


5. Providing a legal basis to contribute to improving the effectiveness of anti-coruption by:


• Guaranteeing consistency and compatibility between the State Audit Law and the Anti-Corruption Law and related regulations, supporting the SAV to perform the task of anti-corruption; 


• Enabling the Auditor General to issue the audit regulations on any cases showing signs of corruption that explains steps and procedures for conducting audits, verifying coruption cases, and disclosing audit reports on these cases;


• Adding the responsibilities of the Government Inspectorate and the SAV in coordinating, avoiding overlapping and duplication between the two agencies (the SAV, within its scope and mandate, shall assume the main responsibility for coordinating with the Inspectorate to address any duplicates between their annual audit plan and those of the Inspectorate);


• Enabling agencies, organizations and individuals involved in state audit activities to make complaint to the Auditor General about the performance of the audit team heads and members if there is evidence of violations against laws and the rights and benefits of auditees. Auditees has the right to complain to the AG about the evaluations, varification, conclusiong and recommendation on audit reports. If auditees disagree with the Auditor General’s decision on complaint settlement, they have the right to sue part or the whole of the AG’s decision; and the final settlement shall be made in accordance with the Law on Administrative procedures.


The new Law shall take effect from July 1, 2020.