(sav.gov.vn) – Recently, at the headquarters of the Spanish Court of Auditors in Madrid, Deputy Auditor General Ha Thi My Dzung held a working meeting with the Spanish Court of Auditors to discuss orientations for future cooperation, with a view to further strengthening and deepening the bilateral relationship between the two institutions in a substantive and effective manner.
Receiving the delegation at the plenary chamber of the Spanish Court of Auditors were Ms. Genaro Moya, First Vice-President of the Court of Auditors and President of the Audit Section; Mr. Fernando Clemente, Member of the Bar Association Council; Ms. Guadalupe Fernández Espinosa, Director General of International Cooperation; together with representatives of several subsidiary units.
On the Vietnamese side, participants included H.E. Doan Thanh Song, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Viet Nam to Spain, along with representatives of the State Audit Office of Viet Nam (SAV): Mr. Nguyen Luong Thuyet, Director General of the Department of Audit Policy and Quality Control; Mr. Ngo Minh Kiem, Chief Auditor of the Regional Audit Office No. I; Mr. Duong Quang Chinh, Chief Auditor of the Regional Audit Office No. II; Ms. Lang Trinh Mai Huong Director General of the Department of International Cooperation, Mr. Nguyen Viet Ha, Deputy Head of Administrative Department.
Opening new prospects for cooperation
At the meeting, Ms. Genaro Moya expressed her pleasure in welcoming Deputy Auditor General Ha Thi My Dzung and the delegation, and introduced the history, organisational model, functions and mandate of the Spanish Court of Auditors.
The Spanish Court of Auditors is the Supreme Audit Institution of Spain, responsible for ensuring transparency, legality and efficiency in the management of public finances. It is an independent body operating separately from the executive branch and is accountable directly to the Spanish Parliament. Members of the Court are elected by Parliament and enjoy a legal status equivalent to that of judges, thereby guaranteeing independence, integrity and freedom from interference in the performance of their duties.
The Court has a long history dating back to the nineteenth century and was formally enshrined in the democratic Constitution of 1978, under Articles 136 and 153(d). Its organisation and operation are governed by the Organic Law of 1982 and the Functional Law of 1988, together with a range of specialised legal instruments regulating areas such as political party financing, electoral expenditure and public budget management.
The President of the Court of Audit serves a three-year term and chairs the Governing Board, which consists of four members: (i) the President of the Court; (ii) the Vice-President in charge of audit activities; (iii) the Vice-President in charge of judicial activities; and (iv) the Secretary General.
The Court operates from two main headquarters located in Fuencarral and Torrelaguna, Madrid, and maintains 12 regional offices corresponding to Spain’s autonomous cities.
The Spanish Court of Auditors performs two core functions: audit and the prosecution of accounting liability. Audit activities focus on verifying compliance with the law, the reliability of financial statements and the effectiveness of the use of public resources. The function of accounting liability enables the Court to hold individuals accountable for mismanagement, misuse or loss of public funds, thereby contributing to the protection of public assets.
Throughout its development, the Spanish Court of Auditors has actively participated in and contributed to international cooperation in the field of public auditing. It is a member of the Contact Committee of the European Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (EUROSAI), a founding member of INTOSAI, and a member of several bodies responsible for implementing the INTOSAI Strategic Plan 2023–2028. The Court also serves as the Permanent Secretariat of EUROSAI, is an associate member of the Latin American and Caribbean Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (OLACEFS), and is a member of the Governing Board of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions with Jurisdictional Functions (JURISAI).
Expressing her sincere appreciation for the warm reception extended by the Spanish Court of Auditors, Deputy Auditor General Ha Thi My Dzung conveyed her pleasure at working with the Court and expressed her hope that the meeting would open up further opportunities for cooperation between the two institutions in the coming period.
She congratulated the Spanish Court of Auditors on its continued development and highly appreciated the achievements it has attained in recent years. She also expressed confidence that, with its long-standing tradition and professional expertise, the Spanish Court of Auditors would continue to make important contributions to the global public auditing community, particularly within the frameworks of INTOSAI and EUROSAI.
“The State Audit Office of Viet Nam highly values the cooperation of the Spanish Court of Auditors over the years and will continue to work closely with the Court to effectively implement future cooperative activities,” Deputy Auditor General Ha Thi My Dzung emphasised.
She also briefed the Spanish colleagues on Viet Nam’s recent socio-economic development, especially the completion of administrative streamlining from central to local levels; introduced the history, organisational structure, vision and strategic priorities of the State Audit Office of Viet Nam; and outlined its recent operational performance, application of information technology and key audit outcomes, as well as its process of international integration and cooperation since its establishment.
Promoting cooperation in areas of mutual strength
At the meeting, both sides reviewed the outcomes of cooperation between SAV and the Spanish Court of Auditors over the years. The two institutions signed a cooperation agreement in 2010, which has laid a solid foundation for the effective implementation of various following cooperative activities and enhanced mutual support in professional fields.
To date, the two sides have organised several high-level visits and working meetings at their respective headquarters. They have also strengthened cooperation in multilateral forums, particularly through coordination between the Spanish Court of Auditors in its role as the Secretariat of EUROSAI and SAV in its capacity as Chair of the Asian Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) for the 2018–2021 term.
Building on this established partnership, both sides agreed to continue promoting the implementation of the cooperation agreement by organising exchanges of high-level delegations and professional missions on topics of mutual interest and comparative advantage. They also agreed to continue supporting each other in multilateral forums, especially within the framework of INTOSAI.
Deputy Auditor General Ha Thi My Dzung further proposed that the Spanish Court of Auditors support SAV in strengthening capacity in areas of priority interest, such as human resource development, information technology auditing, application of digital technologies in audit activities, regional auditing, environmental auditing and performance auditing. This cooperation would be implemented through the dispatch of experts to Viet Nam for experience-sharing and the participation of Vietnamese auditors in training courses and seminars organised by the Spanish Court of Auditors.
Agreeing with these proposals, Ms. Genaro Moya affirmed that the Spanish Court of Auditors would continue to work closely with SAV to develop practical and substantive cooperation programmes, with particular focus on emerging areas such as environmental auditing, crisis management auditing, post-disaster recovery auditing and gender audit. She also expressed her confidence that cooperation between the two institutions would continue to grow in depth, effectiveness and sustainability.
Within the framework of the meeting, a technical roundtable was held on the theme “The Role of Supreme Audit Institutions in preventing and combating corruption and waste”.
Representing SAV, Mr. Nguyen Luong Thuyet, Director General of the Department of Audit Policy and Quality Control, and representing the Spanish Court of Auditors, Mr. Fernando Clemente, Member of the Bar Association Council, delivered presentations.
Mr. Fernando Clemente noted that within Spain’s public financial oversight system, the Spanish Court of Auditors plays an important role in preventing and combatting corruption and promoting public integrity. Although it is not an investigative or prosecutorial body in criminal cases, the Court contributes substantively through independent and transparent audits and by pursuing accounting liability against individuals or entities that misuse or cause losses to public funds.
In recent years, Spain has implemented the National Anti-Corruption Plan 2025, which focuses on three main pillars: (1) risk prevention and strengthened control mechanisms; (2) investigation, prosecution and recovery of corrupt assets; and (3) promotion of a culture of integrity through training, dissemination of good practices and protection of whistle-blowers. The Spanish Court of Auditors plays an active role particularly in the prevention and control pillar, by enhancing transparency in public procurement, subsidy management, grants and budgetary expenditure, areas that are especially vulnerable to corruption risks.
In addition, the Court cooperates closely with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, the Anti-Fraud Office, the National Anti-Corruption Authority and the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) to share data, audit findings and provide investigative support when irregularities are detected. At the international level, the Court also participates in the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) of the Council of Europe, which monitors compliance with standards on transparency, conflicts of interest and codes of conduct for senior public officials.
The most recent GRECO report acknowledged Spain’s progress in improving transparency and adopting legislation on integrity and good governance, while also noting the need for further improvements in oversight of lobbying activities, protection of whistle-blowers and strengthening the independence of bodies responsible for managing conflicts of interest. In this context, the Spanish Court of Auditors continues to affirm its role as a “watchdog” of public finances, contributing to strengthening public trust in the integrity and effectiveness of state institutions.
From the perspective of SAV, Mr. Nguyen Luong Thuyet shared that over more than three decades of development, the SAV has established itself as one of the most effective instruments in preventing corruption and waste. Through its mandate to examine and assess the management and use of public finances and assets, the SAV not only detects violations and losses but also contributes to early prevention by recommending improvements to policies and regulatory frameworks.
Since 1994, the SAV has recommended financial handling amounting to more than VND 740 trillion, referred over 40 cases with signs of violations to investigative authorities, and proposed amendments, supplements or annulments of more than 2,200 legal documents that were no longer appropriate. Audit activities have focused on areas such as land management, public investment, natural resource and mineral exploitation, environmental management and public procurement, sectors that are particularly prone to corruption, waste and group interests.
Through its audits, the SAV has identified numerous shortcomings in budget management, capital allocation and public asset administration, while issuing preventive recommendations to help agencies and localities address weaknesses and strengthen fiscal discipline. Many audit results have been publicly disclosed, creating positive social pressure and contributing to enhanced transparency and accountability of public authorities.
In the coming period, the SAV will focus on renewing audit methodologies and applying artificial intelligence and big data analytics to detect fraud and corruption risks at an early stage. At the same time, it will continue to expand international cooperation and learn from the experience of other SAIs, thereby improving the effectiveness of corruption and waste prevention and contributing to the development of a transparent, accountable and sustainable public financial system.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the First Vice-President of the Spanish Court of Auditors, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Viet Nam to Spain, and members of both delegations witnessed Deputy Auditor General Ha Thi My Dzung signing the Court’s guestbook. In her message, she expressed her honour in visiting and working with the Spanish Court of Auditors, a Supreme Audit Institution with a long tradition and a prominent standing in Europe.
This moment symbolised the mutual trust, respect and shared commitment to advancing the common goals of promoting public financial transparency, integrity and accountability. It marked a meaningful conclusion to the working visit of the SAV delegation to Spain, opening up prospects for more sustainable, effective and substantive cooperation in the future.
Prior to this meeting, the SAV delegation also paid a courtesy visit to the Embassy of Viet Nam in Spain to gain further insights into the political, economic situation and the Vietnamese community in the host country.
In 2010, a high-level delegation of the Spanish Court of Auditors, led by its President, visited the State Audit Office of Viet Nam, during which the two institutions signed a perpetual cooperation agreement.