With the legal status as an agency established by the National Assembly that exclusively inspects public finance and public assets, the State Audit office of Viet Nam (SAV) is one of the agencies that have direct responsibility for detecting and implementing coordinated approaches to handle corruption, and effectively manage public finance and public assets. In order to enhance the preemptive actions against corruption, wastefulness and negativity within audit activities as well as SAV's own internal affairs, SAV’s departments are alleged to execute solutions with regard to fundamental factors, namely such as legal frameworks and human resources.
Preventing and combating corruption through activities of SAV
In recent years, the State Audit Office of Viet Nam (SAV) has concentrated its activities on sensitive issues, exposing risks of wastefulness, corruption, and dissipation. Through audit activities, SAV has been discovering and proposing to the Party, the State, and relevant ministries and branches to supplement and amend a number of mechanisms, policies related to the field of economic and social management.
In the 2016-2021 period, SAV has proactively coordinated with agencies within the internal affair sector, contributing a crucial role in detecting, preventing, and handling corruption; transferred 20 cases suspected of law violation discovered through auditing to the investigating police agency for further investigation, clarification, and settlement, reported 2 cases to the Prime Minister to direct the Ministry of Public Security to investigate and settle; provided 498 records, audit reports, and relevant documents to agencies of the National Assembly, the Central Commission for Inspection, investigating agencies, and other competent State agencies to attend to the investigation, inspection, and supervision, with the following results: the Central Inspection Committee: 250 records, Office of the National Assembly and National Assembly Deputies: 49 records, Ministry of Public Security: 72 files, and other agencies: 127 records.
Moreover, SAV has proposed to amend, supplement, replace, and repeal 786 legal documents, administration documents that violate regulations and are inconsistent with the general regulations of the State and practicality, remedying “holes” in mechanisms and policies in a timely manner, avoiding losses, wastefulness, and tightening financial disciplines; thus, contributing to a healthy financial system; proposed competent agencies to direct and organize responsibility accreditation for various collectives and individuals that commit violations against the provision of law.
Current status of SAV’s anti-corruption activities
SAV’s specialized audit departments and regional audit offices have made many innovations in audit activities and methods that diversified their prohibiting acts against corruption and wastefulness, making it promoting and achieving several important results.
Many workshops are held on anti-corruption in audit activities
According to the representative of Specialized Audit Department No. II - an entity associated with the field of economics and synthesis, their audit reports have proposed that competent authorities amend, supplement or issue new policies in order to ensure that the legal system on economic and financial management is gradually improved, promptly meeting the requirements of anti-corruption combat in each period. Specialized Audit Department No. II has provided many audit reports and related documents for the Central Commission for Inspection, the Central Committee for Internal Affairs and the competent State agencies to serve investigation, inspection and supervision, and carry out proceedings, and at the same time transfer a number of cases to the police to investigate, propose investigation and clarification to handle acts showing signs of violation of the criminal law.
Specialized Audit Department No. 3 performs audits in a number of areas with potential risks of loss and wastefulness, including the health sector. Through audit activities, their audit teams have focused on detecting acts of corruption and wastefulness and recommending competent State agencies to consider and handle them in accordance with the law.
Specialized Audit Department No. 4 strengthens compliance audits, focusing on auditing the formulation, appraisal and approval of investment projects; surveys, design and estimates, thereby detecting and warning the risks of loss and waste of investment capital, and at the same time assessing the economy, savings and anti-waste in construction investment.
In recent years, through the audit of a number of projects, especially projects using ODA loans and projects implemented in the form of EPC contracts, it has been discovered that the negotiation process for contract finalization still left with a number of signed terms not complying with regulations, causing disadvantages for Viet Nam’s side, potentially incurring large investment costs, causing loss and waste of investment capital; The application of an unreasonable and inappropriate form of EPC contract makes it difficult for the investor to negotiate and negotiate the contract, and the acceptance and control of the actual construction volume at the site.
Through the audit of progress management, in some projects, initially focused on determining the causes affecting the construction progress, the costs incurred due to the delay in each project's bidding package, thereby pointing out the shortcomings of the investor in the management of the project progress and specifying the number of costs incurred due to the delay of hundreds of billions of VND.
Improving the effectiveness and efficiency of SAV's anti-corruption activities
Representatives of specialized audit departments of SAV state that there should be synchronous solutions owning to the limitations and inadequacies in SAV's anti-corruption works, which have been drawn from practice. Therefore, in the pursuance of generally enhancing the State’s legal system on anti-corruption, the onus is on SAV to improve its professional methodologies and effectively apply to tasks related to the verification and investigation of denunciations, judicial expertise, analysis of corruption in the management of finance and public property, etc.
Besides, SAV should cooperate with competent agencies to combat corruption, especially procedural agencies in detecting, investigating and handling cases with signs of law violation, including corrupted acts detected by SAV and recommended to be handled through audit activities. In particular, it is necessary to prevent, detect and handle negative and corruption in SAV's audit work.
The professionalism of SAV is an important factor in performing its duties and preventing corruption, which requires high professional capability and technical proficiency by State Auditor. Anti-corruption training and anti-corruption capacity building through audit activities are critical means to strengthen the role of anti-corruption.