Deputy Auditor General Đặng Thế Vinh speaks at a conference on the role of State audit in controlling the power of other State agencies held in Hà Nội yesterday. — Photo dangcongsan.vn

HÀ NỘI — The State Audit Office is one of the agencies with the highest responsibility for detecting and handling corruption, Deputy Auditor General Đặng Thế Vinh has said.

He made the statement at a conference on the role of State audit in controlling the power of other State agencies held in Hà Nội yesterday.

Gathering auditors at state levels, the conference focused on analysing and evaluating this function of State audit as an anti-corruption tool.

Deputy Auditor General Vinh said exercising this function is difficult, but it must be done and done well.

“Not only does corruption cause serious damage to the State’s functions and public resources, it also hurts social justice and hinders poverty reduction and national development.

“The powers of the Government should be restricted with the Constitution and laws and by increasing mutual control among State agencies, in addition to improving the efficiency of inspections and selecting highly-qualified supervisors.”

Đỗ Hồng Công, editor-in-chief of the Kiểm toán (Auditing) online newspaper, said the quality of State audit should be improved, and its function of power control should be exercised more often and more comprehensively.

“The Law on State Audit should be revised and amended in a way that empowers the State Audit Office to fight corruption.

“The office should apply strict measures on individuals and organisations that violated the law and caused losses to the State budget.”  

Dr Hoàng Phú Thọ, chief auditor of the office’s Specialised Audit Department No IV, said there is a tight correlation between corruption and power abuse.

Power is a foundation on which corruption flourishes and corruption is a means to increase power, he said.

“Power control should be done by different agencies, with different methods, tools and procedures, and at different levels and times,” he said.

Experts at the conference also shared and discussed auditing experiences as a way to fight corruption in foreign countries.

In 2018, the State Audit proposed VNĐ89.6 trillion (US$3.86 billion) in fines, helping to retrieve some VNĐ20 trillion of State budget and reduce budget spending by VNĐ44.4 trillion, up 18.4 per cent compared to the previous year. — VNS